Girl Next Door
by ThatsWhatSheSaid07
Summary: Rewrite of original. He always just saw her as the girl next door. Never in his wildest dreams would he have believed she'd turn into the girl he'd fall for. Sorato.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer – I don't own Digimon, mentioned foods, video games, places, cars, hotels, etc. that may be mentioned in this story. That is all.**

**Author's Note: **Okay, so I went back to read my story "Girl Next Door" and was absolutely appalled by how awful it is. Obviously it is one of my first works on here and has a lot of grammatical errors; things don't make sense, etc. So in saying that I've decided to do a rewrite! Shocker? Not really I'm infamous for slacking on other stories. Well, I hope you guys enjoy the rewrite as much as the original. Maybe we can get this story up over 200 reviews? Thanks and enjoy!

**Girl Next Door**

**Chapter One – Prologue**

"Come on, Tai! Don't be a ball hog pass it!" Twelve year old Takenouchi Sora shouted as she chased her best friend, Yagami Taichi "Tai", through her backyard.

"No way, Sor! I'm taking this one all the way and winning the game!" Tai shouted back as he dodged Tachikawa Mimi who was just standing there looking clueless. Soccer wasn't exactly her sport of choice.

"Oh, come on I'm wide open and Izzy is right on your tail!"

Little Izumi Izzy dashed down the yard and tried to steal the ball away from Tai. He wasn't the greatest soccer player but he sure was fast considering his size. Sora shouted at him again to pass the ball but he just waved her away. When he stopped in front of the goal, the opposing team's goalie, Kido Joe, looked at him oddly wondering what crazy move he was going to pull.

"Tai, what are you doing? Kick the ball in the goal!" Sora screamed coming up behind him.

Just as Izzy approached him, Tai kicked the ball to Sora who in turn head butted it in the goal right past Joe. Izzy came crashing into Tai and both of them fell to the ground in a mud puddle. The two looked at each other and just laughed as Sora and Joe helped them up.

"Sorry about knocking you down," Izzy apologized, "I slipped on a puddle and couldn't stop. So much for thinking the yard wouldn't be muddy even though it rained for two days."

Tai just laughed, "No worries, Iz! It's all good."

"I thought you wanted to make the winning goal?" Sora asked Tai as soon as she caught her breath.

"You know the deal there's no "I" in "Team". What kind of person would I be if I hogged the ball the whole time?" Tai said with his infamous crooked grin.

"Is this game over now? I'm all muddy and just want to go home," Mimi complained from across the yard.

"You can go, Mimi," Sora said.

"Finally!" Mimi said pulling out a cell phone and calling her parents for a ride.

"Who invited Mimi to play soccer with us anyways? You know she can't kick a ball to save her life," Joe wondered.

"We needed a filler to make the teams even. She can't play soccer worth a darn but at least she's easy on the eyes," Tai laughed but the other boys agreed.

Sora just rolled her eyes, "Boys…"

"My ride is here; bye everyone!" Mimi shouted running to the front of the yard.

"I guess I'd better get going too," Izzy said, "Mom's expecting me home for dinner. She's making my favorite so I'd better not be later. See you guys later!"

"Wait up, Izzy, your mom offered to bring me home! Bye!" Joe said running after him and joining Izzy.

"So I guess this means you're probably leaving too?" Sora asked once she and Tai were the only ones left.

"Yeah, mom told me not to be out too late because tomorrows the first day of school so I'd better get going. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Tai said.

"All right, bye," Sora said.

Tai gave her a wink and took off down the street. He usually walked home because his apartment was only a couple of miles down the road.

She was now alone. She walked to the goal and picked up the muddy soccer ball from the ground before going to sit on her front porch. The sound of a large moving truck pulling into the driveway of the house next door caught her attention.

A couple of large men dressed in shirts that said "Odaiba Movers" stepped out of the moving truck and removed the for sale sign from the front yard. Following them in a small car was a man that looked to be in his thirties and his son. Sora smirked as they got out of the car and walked toward the front door.

"Someone finally bought that old man's house? I thought it would never sell," Sora said to herself.

She watched them for a minute and couldn't help put notice that the man's son looked about her age. She noticed he had blue eyes which stood out even from across the yard. His blonde hair spiked in all different directions. When he looked over at her, she smiled. He returned the smile by sticking out his tongue. She was outraged.

"The nerve of that guy!" She said to herself and got up and walked into the house without another glance.

She walked into the living room and made herself comfortable on the couch. She didn't even know her mom was in the room until she put her feet up on the coffee table and instantly got scolded for it.

"Get off that couch right this instant young lady!" Takenouchi Toshiko said.

"But I just got comfortable!" Sora whined.

"You are sweaty and muddy and wet from playing soccer in the yard. You're going to ruin the leather and that's a brand new couch. Please go take a shower and come back down when you're done. I need your help."

"With what?" Sora wondered as she got up off the couch and took of her socks.

"I made brownies for the new neighbors and I need you to help me put the fudge on them."

"Are there any left over's?"

"Yes, I made a couple for you as well."

"Yum!"

"You don't get them until after dinner though. Now, please go shower."

"Yes ma'am."

Sora walked upstairs and grabbed a towel from the hall closet before entering the bathroom. She glanced out the hall window and noticed that it looked straight into the hall window of the house next door. The blonde boy from earlier passed by the window and saw her. He gave her a dirty look and aggravated her once again. He then laughed and walked away. She went to the blinds and shut them so fiercely they almost fell off the window.

"He is so rude!" She shouted.

"Who's rude?" Toshiko shouted from downstairs concerned.

"No one!"

* * *

Sora walked down the stairs after finishing her shower. She was dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and tank top. A towel was wrapped around her neck so her wet hair wouldn't soak her shirt.

"You take too long of showers," Toshiko commented when her daughter entered the kitchen.

Sora just rolled her eyes.

"Here," Toshiko said handing her a bowl full of fudge, "Start frosting the brownies."

"Yum!" Sora said sticking her finger in the bowl and licking the sugary goodness.

"Sora, please don't stick your fingers in food that's meant for other people!"

"What? It's not like my fingers aren't clean I did just get out of the shower."

"Take the towel off your neck and start putting the fudge on the brownies."

Sora towel dried her hair again and then threw the towel on the couch. Her mother about had a heart attack.

"Sora, no! The leather! The damp towel will destroy it!"

"Aren't you kind of over exaggerating?"

"Just go put it in the hamper."

"Ugh, fine…" she rolled her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me young lady."

"Sorry."

She put the towel in the clothing hamper in the bathroom and came back downstairs to fudge the brownies. Once she was done she began licking the remaining fudge out of the bowl.

"All that sugar is going to rot your teeth," Toshiko commented.

"So I'll brush my teeth when I'm done."

Toshiko just shook her head as she wrapped up the brownies on a platter. She then handed the platter to Sora and wiped off her hands with a paper towel.

"Get some shoes we need to get over there before it gets too late."

Sora slid on a pair of flip flops and followed her mom out the door. They walked across the yard and up the stairs to their new neighbor's porch. They stood there for a moment before knocking on the door.

A few seconds later a man answered the door. He looked completely stressed out from the move but smiled at them nonetheless.

"Hello! Welcome to the neighborhood! I'm Toshiko and this is my daughter Sora. We live next door."

"Oh, hello! I'm Malcolm it's nice to meet you. Please, come in," he said and opened the door for them.

"What a beautiful house!" Toshiko commented looking around, "We've lived here for almost twelve years and I have never seen the inside of this house."

"Do you have time for a tour?" Malcolm wondered.

"Of course! Oh, who is this handsome young man?" Toshiko asked as Malcolm's son entered the foyer.

"This is my son, Yamato. Yamato, this is Toshiko and Sora our new neighbors."

"Hey," Yamato said casually, "And it's Matt."

"It's nice to meet you, Matt," Toshiko said.

"How about that tour now?" Malcolm said.

"Oh, of course. Sora, why don't you take these brownies into the kitchen and get to know Matt while I tour the house?"

The adults walked away leaving the two alone. Sora glared at him for a moment and then walked toward the kitchen. Matt trailed quickly behind her. She unwrapped the brownies and Matt quickly grabbed one. Sora just stared him down but eventually did the same.

"You're not as cool as you think you are," Sora commented.

"I don't think I'm cool. I _know _I'm cool," Matt replied.

"You just keep on telling yourself that."

Sora turned on her heel and walked through the house trying to find her mom. Matt trailed closely behind her which began irritating her. She stopped and turned around instantly. He almost ran into her.

"Why are you following me? Don't you have something better to do?" Sora asked.

"This is my house I can go anywhere I want," Matt replied.

"I don't like you and its sure obvious you don't like me so why don't you just go away!"

"Bothering you is a lot more fun."

"You're so annoying. You really need to go away or else."

"Or else… what?"

"Or else… this!" Sora lunged at him and tackled him to the ground.

Matt started screaming at her to get off but she just kept punching him.

"Fight back you wimp!" Sora shouted and eventually he did.

The two started rolling around on the floor but Sora eventually got the advantage and was sitting on him. She had him pinned to the ground when their parents walked in the room.

"What in the world is going on here?" Toshiko shouted.

"Yamato! Get off of Sora!" Malcolm screamed.

Toshiko pulled Sora off of Matt and held her back from lunging at him again. Sora became calm and offered a hand to Matt as a peace offering. He pushed her hand away and got off the floor.

"I don't need your help," Matt spat.

Malcolm grabbed Matt by the collar of his shirt and pointed in his face, "Don't you dare ever hit a girl! Have I taught you nothing? What in the world is wrong with you!?"

"I didn't hit her! She's the one that attacked me!" Matt replied in defense.

"Sora, is that true?" Toshiko wondered.

"Maybe… but he wouldn't leave me alone!"

"That does not give you the right to hit someone young lady! Go home, now! We will be talking about this."

"Fine," Sora pouted and left the door.

"I am so sorry," Toshiko apologized, "She has a temper but I've never seen her do something like this. I knew that her having a best friend that's a boy was a bad idea."

"Don't worry about it. I think it's best we call it a night. It was very nice meeting the both of you and I apologize for whatever happened," Malcolm said.

"I apologize as well. Sora will be making a formal apology I can promise you that. Have a good night."

Toshiko stomped through the yard and instantly began yelling when she opened the front door.

"How could you start a fight like that? I walk away for two minutes and you get into a brothel! What is the matter with you?"

"He started it! He's so rude and wouldn't leave me alone!" Sora replied.

Toshiko put a hand to her forehead, "I can't even begin to tell you how embarrassed I am right now. Is this what I can expect from you now? Getting into fights with boys? The last thing I need from you is to get expelled from school."

"Mom, I'm not going to get into a fight at school."

"Just go to your room. We'll talk about this later."

"Fine."

Sora stomped up the stairs to her room and slammed the door behind her. She collapsed on the bed.

"Stupid Matt…" she muttered to herself before falling asleep.

* * *

Sometime around midnight Sora awoke to the sound of rocks being thrown at her window. Groggily she rose from the bed and walked toward the noise. She saw Matt down on the porch motioning for her to open the window.

"What are you doing here?" Sora whispered.

"Come down here!" Matt replied.

"Are you insane? I'm already in enough trouble as it is I don't need to add sneaking out to my list of things that will get me grounded."

"Just come down here I want to talk."

Sora huffed, "Fine."

She grabbed onto the branch of the tree closest to her window and swung herself down onto the porch. Matt had to admit he was impressed.

"All right, I'm here. What do you want?" Sora wondered.

"I want you to be my girlfriend," Matt said catching her completely off guard.

"What are you talking about? You can't be serious?"

"I am serious. Be my girlfriend."

"Why would I want to be your girlfriend?"

"Because I like you."

"You don't even know me."

"Any girl that can throw a right hook like you is a ten in my book."

Sora didn't understand what was happening. One minute they were trying to kill each other and the next he was asking her to be his girlfriend. She didn't understand boys at all.

"What do you say?" Matt asked.

"Fine."

"Cool."

"Now what?"

"Now… we kiss."

"What! You're crazy."

"Oh, come on."

"How long do we have to kiss?"

"Five seconds."

"All right, fine. Let's just get this over with."

Sora closed her eyes and Matt leaned forward and put his lips on hers. He counted out five seconds with his fingers and then pulled away. Sora opened her eyes.

"That was it?" She asked.

"What do you mean 'that was it'?" Matt replied.

"Well, I kind of expected my first kiss to be better than that."

"What! That kiss was great. Are you saying I'm a bad kisser?"

"Yeah, I guess I am!"

"You're crazy I don't want you to be my girlfriend any more!"

"Fine by me! I never wanted to be your girlfriend in the first place!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Matt turned and dashed back to his house as Sora stood there angrier than ever. She climbed back up the tree to her bedroom and slammed the window shut.

"Stupid Matt…"

**To be continued…**

**Well, there's the prologue rewritten. Things will get switched up a bit in the rewrite so hopefully you guys will like it. Please review!**


	2. Just Friends

**Disclaimer – Same as always, I don't own anything. **

**Author's Note: **Okay so starting this chapter I'm changing things up in the rewrite. In this version, Mimi still lives in Japan and never moved to New York. Sora and Matt are next door neighbors and didn't start dating in like ninth grade like in the show. Yeah, that's all for this chapter. Thanks for the previous reviews keep them coming!

**Chapter Two – Just Friends**

_Beep beep… beep beep… beep beep…_

A hand reached out from underneath the comforter and slammed down the snooze button on the alarm clock so hard it almost broke. The room became silent again and the lifeless body dozed back to sleep. It wasn't long before a shrilling voice called from outside the door.

"It's time to wake up, Sora! Last week before spring break let's make it count!" Toshiko shouted and banged and made all sorts of noise trying to get her daughter to wake up.

Sora groaned from under the comforter.

"I heard that. Wake up, now!"

"Fine!" Sora said throwing the blankets back, "I'm up."

"Your breakfast is on the table. I'm leaving for work. Yamato's driving you to school today so don't make him wait. Have a good day, sweetheart!"

"Joy. Bye."

Sora threw her legs over the side of the bed and yawned. This was the third time in the past week that her mom was dumping her on someone else to drive her to school. Sora's car was in the shop for maintenance and was taking longer than expected so she basically had to rely on everyone else for transportation.

She got up and walked out of her room to the hallway closet to get a towel for her shower. Upon passing the window she noticed her neighbor, Matt, staring at her from his hallway window. He pointed to his clock indicating she needed to hurry up. She rolled her eyes and waved it off before entering the bathroom.

Ten minutes later she walked out of the bathroom and passed by the window again. Matt was still there and looked like he hadn't moved from the first time she saw him. He pointed to his clock again. All she did was shake her head and go to her room to get ready.

After she had blow dried her hair, dressed herself, and applied a little bit of make up she was finally ready to take on the day. She grabbed her school bag and shuffled down the stairs to the kitchen. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye.

"How do you always get into my house?" Sora asked when she realized the figure was Matt.

"Your mom never locks the door," Matt said.

"It's nice to know she cares. Hey, is that my breakfast you're eating?"

"Yep. You don't eat breakfast anyways. You never have and yet your mom still tries to force you to eat. It works out for me though because my dad can't cook to save his life."

"It's scary how well you know me."

"It's not like we haven't been friends since we were twelve or anything. I know more about you than you know about yourself."

"Oh really? What's my favorite color?"

"Red."

"That was too easy. When's my birthday?"

"March 18th."

"What is my favorite kind of flower?"

"Hydrangea. And just for the record: feet freak you out, you set your alarm clock twenty minutes early so you can snooze in late, you don't let anyone eat in your car, your favorite cartoon is Family Guy even though you'll never admit it, you refuse to wear pink… or heels which you totally should because they make your legs look amazing, you're oddly obsessed with the show True Blood… and vampires for that matter, you don't eat foods that are green, you love tomato soup with Ritz crackers and a grilled cheese sandwich, you can't get through the day without coffee, you-"

Sora cut him off, "All right I get it. You_ do_ know me better than anyone else. Well, maybe not Tai but still."

"I told you. Now, are you ready because we're going to be late?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

He stuck the last piece of bacon in his mouth, handed Sora her mug full of freshly brewed coffee, and the two headed out the door.

"Sorry that you have to keep driving me to school," Sora said once they were in the car and on their way, "You know how my mom is."

"I'll find a way for you to repay me," Matt replied with a smirk.

"I'm actually kind of scared now."

"I'm kidding. I don't mind. Your mom's not exactly the most reliable person."

"Tell me about it. My car is probably done and ready to be picked up but my mom is too lazy to take me over there and get it. She's so ridiculous all she thinks about is herself."

"Ah, don't stress yourself out she's always been like that. It's not like it's something new."

"Yeah, you're right. She's just irritating."

"Anyways… so what are your plans for spring break?"

"Probably nothing. Mimi mentioned all of us going down the Okinawa for the week but I don't know."

"You should just to get away from your mom."

Sora laughed, "Yeah, that is if she'd even let me go. You know how psycho she is about there not being any adult supervision."

"I'm sure if you got Mimi to talk to her she would let you go."

Sora rolled her eyes, "My mom thinks Mimi is a saint. Sadly, that's not anywhere close to true."

Matt laughed, "We all know that's one big fat lie."

"Oh joy…" Sora said as soon as Matt stopped the car in the school parking lot, "Another day of school."

"Only a week left before spring break… You'll get through it."

"If I don't kill someone first."

Sora got out of the car and spotted Tai across the parking lot. He was flirting with Mimi, as always, and she was flirting back. It was a wonder they weren't together even though they'd hooked up a million times and _everyone _knew about it.

"Sora, Matt!" Mimi cheered when she saw her friends approaching.

"Hey Meems," Sora said with a yawn.

"Hey," Matt said as well.

"You still don't have your car?" Tai asked after realizing the two rode to school together again.

"No! My mom sucks."

"Obviously. You know, people are starting to talk about the two of you," Mimi stated. She always knew the latest gossip. Sora believed she started most of it.

"Starting to talk about what?" Sora wondered as she sipped her coffee.

"Well, Matt drives you to school all the time, you're always hanging out together, you're like number one on each other's speed dials… do you get what I'm saying?"

Sora choked on the coffee and ended up having a coughing fit. Tai smacked her on the back in a panic to help her stop choking.

"People think we're secretly dating!?" Sora finally managed to say, "Are they insane?"

"They'd have to be. I would never date someone like you," Matt said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sora asked offended.

"Oh, come on Sora. You know I'm in a totally different league than you."

Sora's face burned red with fury and her jaw dropped, "Are you crazy? Are you seriously saying that you're too good for me?"

"Come on, look at me," Matt said motioning to himself.

"You're out of your damn mind! I would never fall for someone like you anyways regardless of whether you're in my league or not!"

"And why is that?"

"I don't go for guys who use enough hair gel that if they came anywhere within ten feet of fire their head would burst into flames. The fact that you're skinny and a wannabe emo and the whole 'Look at me I'm in a stupid band and girls love to flock to me' thing doesn't appeal to me at all. Oh, not to mention you're extremely full of yourself. You think you're so cool… well guess what Yamato… you're so not. Someone like me would NEVER fall for someone like you. Get over yourself."

Sora stormed off toward the school leaving everyone stunned. Matt shook it off once she was out of sight and just laughed.

"Why are you laughing she seemed really pissed off?" Tai wondered.

"It's funny because I was just kidding. I love pissing her off it makes things more fun," Matt replied, "I don't even know why she would care about something like that so much. We're just friends it's not a big deal."

"Well, at least now you don't have to worry about people thinking you're secretly dating. Now everyone's going to be talking about your dramatic break up in the parking lot before school," Mimi commented.

"Ah, whatever," Matt said shaking his head, "Let people think what they want I don't care."

* * *

For some reason beyond Sora's knowledge the conversation with Matt earlier that morning somehow irked her for the rest of the day. She was being immature caring so much about something stupid but she didn't care. She even made an excuse as to why she couldn't be at lunch. She ended up in the computer lab the whole time just so she didn't have to see his stupid face.

Once last period rolled around Sora felt her cell phone buzzing in her purse. The teacher's endless droning about World War II almost put her to sleep so she took any chance at entertainment she had; even if it meant getting her phone taken away for the hour. When she realized who the text message was from she just rolled her eyes.

**Yamato: **_You know I was just kidding earlier right?_

Sora didn't want to answer the text and at first didn't but then he texted her again.

**Yamato: **_Come on, Sor! It was just a joke. I was kidding about me being out of your league. Seriously, I just wanted to see your reaction. _

**Sora: **_You're a real jerk sometimes you know that?_

**Yamato: **_I know I'm sorry. Please forgive me?_

**Sora: **_Fine, whatever._

His last text was a smiley face. Sora smirked and just shook her head. Matt could be a real jerk sometimes but in the end he always ended up making her smile.

"Stupid Matt…" she muttered to herself.

* * *

"Great job today, Takenouchi. You're going to kick ass at regionals," the head tennis coach complemented.

"Thanks Coach!" Sora said as she gathered her things after practice and shoved them into her duffle bag. She looked toward the parking lot to see if her mom was there to pick her up but there wasn't a car in sight except those of students. She went to grab her cell phone and a new voicemail popped up on the screen.

"Sora, its mom. I'm so sorry I'm not going to be able to pick you up from practice I have to go to the airport to pick up your father. See if Tai or Mimi can give you a ride. I'm so, so sorry this is really last minute. I love you, bye!" The voicemail said.

"Why am I not freaking surprised?" Sora said to herself. She threw the cell phone back in the bag and started walking away until one of the girls on her team stopped her.

"So is it true?" The girl, Avery, asked. She was Sora's biggest rival on the team. Her tennis skills were amazing and she was incredibly good looking. She was also a cheerleader during off season which made her that much more appealing. She was almost a dead knock off of Megan Fox. She was tall and skinny with black hair and baby blue eyes. She was pretty much the envy of every girl in high school; besides Mimi that is.

"Is what true?" Sora asked.

"Are you and Matt dating?"

Sora rolled her eyes, "No, we're not. We're just friends. Seriously."

A smile found Avery's lips, "Could you give this to him for me?"

Avery handed Sora a piece of paper with little hearts drawn all over it. She smiled before walking away. Sora didn't understand why girls were so attracted to Matt. Sure, he was attractive and all but he really wasn't that great of a person. Or was he…?

Sora spotted Matt in the parking lot standing by his car like always after her practices. He smiled when he saw her.

"You're giving me a ride home," Sora stated.

"I don't even get a please?" Matt responded.

She grabbed the car keys from him and unlocked the doors. She then sat in the passenger seat and cranked up the engine so Matt didn't really have a choice.

"Did your mom bail on you again?" Matt asked once he got in the car.

"What do you think?" Sora replied.

"Nice."

"Oh, I have a note for you by the way before I forget."

"Really? Who is it from?"

"Avery."

"Who's Avery?"

"The girl on my tennis team."

"Oh, is she the blonde one?"

"No she's the one with black hair and blue eyes."

Matt stared at her with a blank expression. She rolled her eyes.

"The one that everyone says looks like Megan Fox…"

"Oh!" Matt said finally realizing who she was, "Hand it over she's hot!"

"Just watch the road I'll read it to you," Sora said unfolding the note, "Let's see… Mattie… oh, how sweet she already has a pet name for you and you didn't even know who she was."

"Just keep reading."

"Fine. So prom is coming up in less than a month and I was wondering who you were deciding to take. I'm just letting you know that I am totally available and pretty much open to anything you want to do. If you take me I will totally make it worth your while… I promise. Xoxo, Avery."

Sora busted out laughing.

"What?" Matt wondered.

"She's a slut that's what!"

"Why is it that every girl that wants to hook up with me is automatically a slut according to you?"

"Matt, obviously all she wants to do is sleep with you so she can go and brag about it to all her friends later. It's not like she's looking for a serious relationship or anything."

"Yeah, yeah. At least she's hot."

"Do you even like her?"

"Didn't you just hear me? She's hot."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's a guy thing."

"Apparently."

"So are you going to prom?"

"I don't know I don't have a date."

"Well, rumor has it that more than one person has already asked you and you turned them all down."

"Rumor has it? Since when do you listen to what other people say?"

"If it involves my friends I listen. Why'd you turn everyone down?"

"I don't know. I guess I just can't see myself spending a lot of money to go to a dance with someone I don't even care about."

"So you're saying if you cared about the person enough you would go?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Matt fell silent as he pulled the car into his driveway. Sora unbuckled her seatbelt and was about to get out of the car until she felt Matt's hand grab her wrist.

"What?" She wondered.

He stared at her for a minute trying to think of the words he wanted to say. His thoughts fell through and he decided not to bring it up at all.

"Nothing," he replied.

Sora looked at him strangely, "Okay… you're being weirder than normal."

She got out of the car and walked toward her house. Matt stepped out of the driver's seat and watched her walk across the yard.

"Oh, thanks for the ride… again!" Sora shouted and ended it with a wave before walking into her home.

"Yeah," Matt replied, "No problem."

* * *

Matt walked into his house and threw his school bag on the floor next to where he took his shoes off. The smell of something delicious cooking filled the air instantly caught his attention. He followed the smell to the kitchen and found his dad placing food on multiple plates and in bowls.

"Since when do you cook?" Matt asked startling his father a bit.

"I didn't even hear you come in," Malcolm replied.

"What is all this food for? Are we expecting company or something?"

"Actually, we are."

"We are…?"

"Toshiko's husband is in town so I invited them all over for dinner."

"Dad, don't take this the wrong way or anything but you're not exactly the greatest cook. You should have told me I would have taken care of it."

"Hey now your old man isn't completely useless. Besides, I didn't cook it. I ordered take out and threw away the boxes. No one will ever know except us."

Matt just laughed and shook his head, "You continue to amaze me."

Matt sat down at the kitchen table and stared off into space while Malcolm continued to organize the food. After a few moments of silence Malcolm noticed something was troubling his son. They didn't usually talk about personal problems but he figured he might as well give it a shot.

"What's troubling you son?" Malcolm asked.

"Hmm?" Matt replied.

"Is there something on your mind you want to talk about?"

"Not really."

"All right but if you want to talk the offers on the table."

"Okay. This is strictly hypothetical though so don't take it seriously."

"Hypothetical, not serious. Got it."

"Okay, so there's this guy I know that has been friends with this girl for like forever. When I say forever I mean like since they were kids. Well, since that time the guy got to know the girl pretty well and started to develop feelings for her that were a little more than… friendly. Now, he kind of wants to express those feelings for her by asking her to be his date to prom but at the same time doesn't want to ask her because he's scared she will say no. He also doesn't want to ruin the friendship between them because he has so much fun making her mad and seeing her smile and what not. But he really, really wants to take a shot and see what could possibly happen. What do you think he should do?"

"Are you talking about Tai liking Sora?"

"Dad, I said this was hypothetical."

"Oh, right. Sorry the way you described it they just kind of fit into the story."

"What do you think?"

"I think that if this guy really likes this girl he should go for because if he doesn't he will always spend his life wondering what could have been. It doesn't hurt to try."

"You know what you're right. I… I mean he… should give it a try. Thanks dad."

"Anytime. I'm getting pretty good at this advice thing huh?"

"Ha, yeah if the situation was real."

"Eh, at least it was worth a shot."

* * *

"Do we have to go over there for dinner?" Sora wined once she learned they were expected at the Ishida's momentarily for dinner, "Matt's acting so weird today."

"Yes, we have to go so make yourself presentable," Toshiko replied.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

Sora looked down at herself and couldn't find anything wrong. Since she'd come home she'd changed out of her tennis uniform into a pair of knee-length grey sweat pants and a black tank top.

"You look like you just woke up," Toshiko commented.

"You're acting like we're going to a five star restaurant or something. It's just Matt and his dad it's not that big of a deal."

"Just go change."

"Ugh! You're so difficult!"

* * *

Once Sora had changed into something more presentable, according to her mom that is, the family headed next door to join the Ishida's for dinner. The dinner went like most they spent together: Toshiko enjoyed a glass of wine or two… or four, Malcolm and Sora's father chugged down beers and talked about sports while Matt and Sora sat in silence.

Sora picked at her food. She wasn't really that hungry but took a couple bites here and there so she didn't seem rude. That was when the fight broke out.

"Sora dear why is it that you and Yamato have never gone steady?" Toshiko blurted out ending whatever conversation was currently going on.

"Matt's just a friend mom, that's why," Sora snapped back.

"The two of you would definitely make the perfect couple. I mean, considering Sora would make herself up every once in a while."

"What does it matter you think I'm a lesbian anyways."

"I do not think that."

"Yes you do. You think just because I don't dress like a slut like all of the other girls in my school I'm never going to have a boyfriend. Well, maybe I don't want a boyfriend mom maybe I'm happy being single did you ever think about that?"

"You just seem so lonely…"

"I'm not lonely, mom. I'm sorry I didn't turn out to be the perfect child you always wanted. I'm sorry I can't be the girl that all of the boys flock to. That's not me and it never will be so you just need to get over it!"

"Sora, you're being out of line."

"No mom you're out of line! This conversation is over. Excuse me."

Sora stood up from the table and left the house. She was absolutely fuming. Her mother always did everything she could to embarrass her around other people and she was sick of it. She wanted nothing to do with her mother at that point. It was either punch her in the face or walk away so she chose option number two.

* * *

Sora locked herself in her room the rest of the night and wouldn't come out to talk to anyone, not even her dad. She ignored her mother's attempts and eventually Toshiko gave up.

The time reached somewhere around midnight and Sora couldn't seem to fall asleep. All the things her mother did were finally starting to get to her. She had a feeling she wouldn't be able to keep herself sane much longer. Her cell phone buzzed next to her and she stared at it wondering who else would be awake at this hour. It was Matt.

**Yamato: **_You awake?_

**Sora: **_Yeah, what's up?_

**Yamato: **_My couch is always open if you don't want to be in your house._

Sora looked up from the phone and took no other hints. She opened her bedroom window, climbed down the tree, and walked across the yard to the basement door of the Ishida's home. She lightly knocked and seconds later Matt opened it and let her in. He handed her a blanket and a pillow and she made her way to the couch. It wasn't something knew she slept at his house a lot. Their parents didn't know, obviously, but Sora went to Matt's to get out of her house when her mom went crazy. She was lucky to have a good friend like him.

**To be continued…**

**Thanks all for reviewing the last chapter I hope you'll do the same for this one. By the way... when Sora and Matt are texting each other I use his real name Yamato to indicate it's him because it's supposed to be the way she has his name saved in her phone.**


	3. Art of Seduction

**Disclaimer – I don't own anything.**

**Okay, just for the record, because I got a review saying something about it, the account user Blondie121147 is my account. I have two accounts. I created this one to start new stories because I had finished all of the ones on the other account. I'm not stealing stories because I am Blondie121147 as well. Just trying to make that clear so someone doesn't come after me for stealing stories. I wanted to rewrite this story but on my other account. Thanks.**

**Chapter Three – The Art of Seduction**

Sora was up early enough to get out of Matt's house before either of their parents knew about it. Thankfully for her, Toshiko was gone before she ever even came out of her room so no awkward small talk had to be exchanged between them. Her father attempted to talk to her as he drove her to school but when she played the silent game he basically gave up. She did give him props for trying though. She just wasn't in the mood to talk about it.

The entire day felt like it dragged to Sora. She didn't pay attention in any of her classes, knew none of the answers when called on by teachers, and even landed herself in detention for back talking a teacher.

"This isn't like you, Sora," her teacher said when he handed her the detention slip.

"I'm just having a bad day," Sora replied.

"Well, I hope everything gets better. I expect more from you."

"Yes sir."

Detention caused her to be late to tennis practice that day. Her coach pretty much chewed her a new one once she finally "decided to join them" as he put it. She ended up playing awful that practice and her coach just continued to scream at her. The day ended with her throwing her tennis racket and breaking it in half.

"Get off the court Sora and go home," the coach said.

Tai leaned back on the bleachers and sighed heavily, "What in the world is up with her today?"

"Maybe she's just stressed out," Mimi commented, "She's been having a lot of problems with her mom lately."

"Yeah, I know, she told me about what happened last night. Why does her mom always have to be up her ass about everything?"

"Because she's psychotic," Matt stated entering the picture.

"What are you doing here?" Tai wondered, "Don't you usually dip out once last period is over?"

"Avery asked me to come watch her practice today."

"Who's Avery?" Tai asked.

Matt pointed to the Megan Fox look-a-like and she smiled and waved.

"Since when do you care about watching a tennis practice?"

"Hot girls running around in short skirts. Who wouldn't want to watch it?" Matt replied with a smirk.

"Ugh, men are such pigs," Mimi muttered.

"So do you think Sora's going to be okay?" Tai wondered.

"I think she'll be fine. She just needs time to cool off," Matt said.

Sora gathered her things together and stormed off the court.

"I need you to come pick me up right now," Sora shouted into her cell phone.

"Sora, your father and I are out for the day can't Matt-"

"Fucking typical."

"Excuse me young lady!? Watch your language!"

"I'll find another way home you're freaking useless to me."

Sora hung up on her mother and started walking. She knew she could ask Matt or Tai or even Mimi for a ride but she was fuming and decided walking would be better for her and them; she knew she would take her anger out on one of them.

"I should go get her she doesn't need to walk home it's too far," Tai said standing up.

"No don't worry about it I'll take her home you don't need to go out of your way when I live next door," Matt said.

"Are you sure? She gets pretty mean when she's in moods like this I don't want you to snap back at her. It will just make things worse."

"I'll be fine."

"All right well good luck."

"See ya."

Matt took off toward the parking lot only to be stopped by Avery. She latched onto his arm and looked into his eyes with a hurt expression.

"Where are you going?" She wondered.

"I have to leave, sorry," Matt replied simply as he pulled his arm out of her grip.

"Why do you care about her so much? It's not like you two are ever going to get together or anything."

"My friend needs me."

Avery scoffed, "Yeah, that's right. _Friend._ That's all she'll ever be Matt. Just remember that."

Matt ignored her last comment and dashed to his car. He squealed out of the parking lot and found Sora about halfway down the block.

"What do you want, Yamato?" Sora asked. She didn't even make eye contact with him.

"Get in the car, Sora," Matt replied driving as her walking speed.

"I don't need you to keep helping me out I can take care of myself. If that means walking for an hour to get home then so be it."

"Come on, Sor. You and I both know you don't want to walk all the way home hauling around that duffle bag."

"I'm just fine thank you very much."

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed through the sky. Sora felt rain drops fall on her faces.

"You're going to get soaked if you don't let me give you a ride home," Matt stated.

"Rain doesn't bother me."

"Rain might not but I know for a fact that lightning freaks you out."

"I'll deal with it."

More thunder boomed and the sky filled with even more lightning. Sora stopped walking and shivered.

"You know you're going to give in so just do it already."

Sora stood outside the car for a moment as the rain fell hard. Within seconds she was soaked. She did end up giving in and let Matt give her a ride home. They said nothing the entire way.

* * *

Matt pulled his car into the driveway of his house and the two sat and waited for a minute before getting out. The rain was coming down in buckets and as soon as they stepped out they'd be soaked from head to toe.

"Mind if I stay at your place for a while?" Sora asked, "I can't bear to be alone right now."

"Yeah, sure. Are you ready to make a dash for the house?"

"Well, considering I'm already wet I guess a little more rain wouldn't hurt?" Sora smirked.

"There's that smile I've been missing!" Matt laughed and then pinched her cheek.

She swatted his hand away and laughed, "You're such a dork."

"All right you ready? One… two…"

"Three!" Sora shouted and the two dashed out of the car.

They ran to the front door of the house and Matt unlocked it as quickly as he could. His efforts were for nothing though because they got soaked regardless.

"Wow this sucks!" Sora said removing her shoes. They were both dripping water all over the floor.

"Come on downstairs you can borrow some of my clothes while I put yours in the dryer," Matt said.

"Okay, sounds good."

Sora followed him down the stairs into the basement. In all the years she'd known him she'd never actually seen the basement in the daylight. Usually the only time she was ever in that part of the house was when she was trying to run away from her mom in the middle of the night. She had to admit she was impressed by how clean and organized it was.

The stairs opened up into a large living room complete with a sectional couch, end tables, a large flat screen TV mounted on the wall, pool table, and every video game/system known to mankind. Through a hallway that branched off from the living room were two rooms, one being Matt's bedroom and the other an office. There was also a full bathroom that had a separate bathtub and walk in shower. The whole basement was basically Matt's bachelor pad and his dad usually never came down to bother him.

"I'll grab you some clean clothes," Matt said walking into his room.

Sora walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Thanks to the rain, her tennis uniform was sticking to every curve of her body and her hair was a tangled mess. The make up she had put on that morning was running down her face making her look like a raccoon. She was basically just one hot mess.

"Here," Matt said handing her a shirt and some sweat pants, "They will be big on you but they should be okay until your clothes are done drying."

"Thanks Matt. I really appreciate it."

"No problem," he replied and turned to walk out of the bathroom.

"Oh, hey before you go can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"My uniform zips up to my neck and I can't exactly reach it. Do you think you could…"

"Sure, of course. I mean what are friends for?"

Sora turned around a moved her hair over one shoulder. Matt placed his fingers on the zipper and started to pull it down. Farther and farther it went until it stopped at the bottom of her lower back. Matt hesitated before pulling his hand away. He couldn't help but notice how toned and beautiful she was. It was like every curve of her body was screaming at him to come closer. His thoughts were broken when she turned around.

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"Uh, yeah, no problem."

Matt left the bathroom and Sora changed out of her wet clothes into the dry one's he'd given her. It only took her a minute before she was out of the bathroom and staring at Matt looking like a fish stuck in a net trying to get out of his shirt. She laughed.

"What are you doing?" She wondered.

"I'm stuck!" Matt replied.

"Let me help," Sora said still laughing.

She grabbed onto his shirt and pulled. It took a minute before she could get it off because it clung to him and was reluctant to let go. When he stood back up straight she couldn't stop herself from checking out his bare chest. The way every muscle in his chest was defined and the way his wet, golden hair fell into his face in a messy manner made her entire body shiver. _Matt is your friend what in the world is wrong with you!? _Sora thought to herself before looking away and walking into the living room.

"So, um, thanks again for giving me a ride home," Sora managed to say.

"Sora, Sora, Sora… you act like it's a big deal I really don't have a problem with it. You do live right next door after all," Matt replied and took a look at her, "Sadly, you look better in my clothes than I do."

Sora just laughed. She didn't think that a white wife beater and baggy sweat pants did her much justice considering they were way too big.

"I want to apologize if I was giving you an attitude earlier. My mom's just making me absolutely crazy right now. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to handle it."

"It's okay. I understand."

"I think I need a stress outlet. Usually tennis helps me but today I just couldn't focus. Maybe I need a punching bag or something."

"You are in luck then! I just happen to have a punching bag," Matt replied.

"Really?"

"Yep. In my room. It's my stress outlet."

"Small world."

"Come on, I'll teach you."

The two walked into Matt's large bedroom and sure enough there was a punching bag hanging in the corner. Matt grabbed a couple pairs of gloves and handed them to her.

"Okay, first things first. In order to do this correctly without hurting yourself you need to keep your arms from going all over the place," Matt said and demonstrated the proper way to hit the punching bag.

"Isn't the whole point of one of these things to beat the shit out of it until you feel better?" Sora asked.

"Safety first."

Sora rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on like it's that hard."

Sora took a swing at the bag only to be stopped by Matt.

"No, no, no like this," Matt said moving her arms in the correct position. He held them there for a moment until she got it right, "Now try."

Sora threw her whole body into the punch and smiled, "Wow, that felt great!" She punched the bag again… and again and again. Pretty soon she broke into a sweat. Matt just stood back and watched her until she finally got tired and stopped.

"Feel better?" Matt wondered.

"I feel great! These things definitely work. All I had to do was imagine the bag as my mom nagging me about everything and all the stress and anger just came out. Incredible!"

"Well, I'm glad you liked it."

"I might just have to come over here more often!"

"My door is open any time you need a stress outlet."

"Good."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Matt still had his shirt off and Sora took another look. She'd never been attracted to him before but seeing him without a shirt off really made her outlook on things change. Matt reached over and tucked the piece of hair in her face behind her ear. She took in a deep breath. _He smells amazing…_ She couldn't control herself any more.

Without warning Sora threw herself at him and planted her lips on his. Matt's eyes widened because he had no idea what was happening. He didn't know whether to kiss her back or push her away. The strange thing was the kiss didn't feel awkward at all. It felt… right.

"Oh my God…" Sora said pulling away, "I'm so sorry I have no idea what came over me. I am such an idiot I have to go…"

Sora started walking toward the door but was stopped when Matt grabbed her hand. She spun around and their lips met again as he pushed her up against the door. At that moment everything was forgotten. All of the problems with her mom, her tennis coach yelling at her, the detention she received… none of it mattered. She was kissing one of her best friends and didn't want to stop because for the first time in her life everything made sense.

Matt shut the door to his room and led Sora to his bed. He fell down gently on top of her and their kiss intensified. Sora ran her fingers up and down his back and every so often her nails would dig into his skin; especially when he began kissing her neck. Her breathing became heavier and her heart raced when his hands began to wander. Her whole body was screaming for him and he was taking full advantage. Neither of them wanted to stop.

* * *

Malcolm pulled up in the driveway of his home and sighed. It had finally stopped raining and his day was finally coming to an end. He saw Matt's car parked off to the side and quickly ran through dinner options in his head.

As soon as he stepped out of the car he heard Toshiko's voice call from across the yard.

"Malcolm, do you know where Sora is?" She asked, "She's not answering her phone and she's not in the house. We tried knocking on the door at your house to see if she was possibly with Yamato but no one answered."

"She and Matt might be in the basement watching TV or something. Matt doesn't usually spend time upstairs unless he's getting something to eat. Come on, let's go look," Malcolm replied.

Toshiko followed Malcolm into the house. Like he'd said, no one was residing on the main level but shuffling noises came from downstairs.

Malcolm opened the door to the basement stairs and the two walked down to Matt's living area. Neither one of the teens were anywhere in sight.

"It sounds like they're in the bedroom," Malcolm said.

"I don't like the sound of that…" Toshiko replied, "They'd better be sitting on opposite ends of that room."

Toshiko pushed past Malcolm and threw the bedroom door open with force. Her eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming at what she saw.

"What is this!?" Toshiko shouted.

"Mom!?" Sora panicked and pushed Matt off of her. She grabbed a sheet and covered herself.

"It's not what it looks like!" Matt said jumping up off the bed.

"Oh my Lord," Toshiko said covering her eyes.

Sora appeared naked underneath the sheets and Matt was stripped to his boxers. His lower half was a little more than excited and was poking out for the whole world to see. He grabbed a pillow and covered himself up. Their release of sexual tension turned into the most humiliating moment of their lives.

Toshiko pulled her daughter off of the bed and out of the room. She was gripping into her skin so hard Sora was sure there would be a bruise there later. She then apologized for her daughters behavior and the two left the room.

Malcolm looked at his son and tried to act like he was mad but it wasn't doing much effect, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"In my defense, she attacked me first," Matt replied.

"Well, at least you fought back this time."

* * *

"You are NEVER to see this boy again. From now on you will be supervised at all times. I will not have my daughter sleeping around like a slut. You are from here on out grounded until further notice," Toshiko scorned as the two walked up the stairs and out of the front door.

Sora pulled her arm away once they were inside their house, "I am eighteen years old you can't exactly tell me what I can and cannot do!"

"As long as you live under my roof you_ will_ do what I say. You are grounded. I will be driving you to and from school. You will not be allowed to hang out with any friends until the end of the school year. Oh, and if you were planning on doing anything for spring break you can pretty much forget about it. You're not going anywhere. I will be changing my work schedule so I can be here from the time you get home from school until the time you wake up to go back to school. You are an embarrassment to this family."

Sora stared at her mother and all the anger and frustration and hatred toward her came rushing back. She clutched the sheet that was wrapped around her tighter and said the one thing every parent dreads to hear from their child: "I hate you." And with that she ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.

* * *

She refused to come out of her room the rest of the night. She wouldn't even eat because she didn't want to see her mother's face. She just spent the whole night angry and alone.

"Mimi, can I stay with you for a while?" Sora asked her friend over the phone.

"Why what happened?" Mimi wondered.

"I'd rather tell you in person. I think if I tell you over the phone you'll have a heart attack."

"Oh! So it's juicy! Your mom will hate me if I come get you though. She'll think I'm stealing you away or something."

"At this moment, I don't really care. Please, just come get me."

"All right. But you have some explaining to do when I get there. See you soon."

"Bye."

Sora packed up all of her personal belongings along with some clothes. If her mother was going to go to this extreme and accuse her of being a slut then she was going to just leave. She was eighteen after all so her mom couldn't tell her no. She needed time away and living with Mimi was just the way to do that.

Sora picked up her bags and lugged them down the stairs. She was met by gazes from her parents.

"Where do you think you're going?" Toshiko wondered.

"I'm moving out," Sora replied.

"Like hell you are!"

"I'm eighteen and I will do whatever the hell I want. I'm leaving and there is nothing you can do about it."

"You are not going to move out. You don't have any money and where exactly do you plan to live? On the streets? You sure as hell are not going next door to be with _that boy_."

"_That_ _boy _you're talking about is the only person in this world who understands me. He cares about me a hell of a lot more than you ever have and guess what? If you gave me the choice between you and him… the chances of me choosing you are pretty much zero. I can't live here any more. You treat me like the dirt under your feet and I'm done with it. If you want to boss something around all the time then get a dog because I'm over it!"

Toshiko stared at her daughter more disappointed than ever. She knew she was tough on her daughter but that's only because she wanted to prepare her for the real world. Well, apparently Sora experiencing the real world was coming a lot quicker than she expected. She wasn't ready for her daughter to leave and now that it was all coming to a head she felt her heart slowly breaking.

"If that's how you feel then I guess I can't stop you," Toshiko said.

"Wait… you're really going to let me go?" Sora replied in shock.

"Like you said, you are eighteen and you are an adult. If you want to leave I'm not going to stop you."

"Good. Mimi will be here to pick me up soon. I'll come back for all of my stuff later."

"All right. I'm sorry it had to come down to this."

"I'm sorry too."

Tears formed in Toshiko's eyes and she left the room and slammed her bedroom door shut. Sora felt bad. She had never made her mother cry before and for some reason it actually made her feel a tinge of guilt.

Sora's dad walked over and wrapped his arms around his daughter. She then burst into tears.

"I can't keep living with her, dad. She's going to drive me to insanity. I just need to leave for a while."

"I understand. Take all the time you need. I know how your mother can be. Just know that she does love you she just doesn't always know how to show it."

"I'm sorry."

"It'll be okay. I'm going to go talk to your mother."

* * *

"Okay, what in the world is going on?" Mimi asked once she and Sora were back at Mimi's home, "It's not everyday that I get a call from my best friend asking me to come help her move out."

"I already told you, I can't live with her any more," Sora replied.

"Yes, but you've always said that. It's never been bad enough to the point where you wanted to move out."

"Okay. I'm going to tell you what happened but you have to keep your mouth shut and not tell anyone. Not even Tai."

"The suspense is killing me! Please spill!"

Sora took a deep breath and explained everything that happened. When she was done Mimi bombarded her with questions.

"This is spectacular! I've been waiting for the day that you and Matt would hook up for so long! All the signs were there! I totally knew that you guys were together you were just keeping it a secret! So what happens from here? Are you going to go public? Why can't I tell Tai? We had a bet and I totally won!"

"You and Tai had a bet? What kind of bet?"

"Well, not just me and Tai. Davis, Tk, Kari, and Yolie were all involved too. We had money down on who would make the first move. I'm the only one that said you so I win!"

"I can't believe you guys were betting money on when we would finally hook up."

"It's not a big deal. The fact that you guys finally did… now that's a big deal!"

"I don't know, Mimi. Matt's been my friend for so long… anything more than that kind of scares me."

"It's destiny. You two hooked up for a reason! He totally loves you."

"He does not love me."

"Well, maybe not yet but he will."

"I don't even know if I want anything else to happen between the two of us. Tomorrow is going to be so awkward."

"It's only awkward if you let it be. It's getting late though we can talk more tomorrow. I hope you're okay staying in the guest room. I explained the situation to my parents and they'll have a moving truck over at your parent's house in the morning. They will take care of getting all of your stuff. They said you can stay here as long as you need."

"You are a life save Mimi. Thank you so much."

"Anytime, babe. Get some sleep, you look like a mess," Mimi said with a wink.

Sora left Mimi's room and walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom. The room was nice and twice as large as the room at her parent's house. The king size bed looked like it was built for the gods and made her feel like she was sleeping on a cloud.

Once she was in bed and all the lights were out she stared at the ceiling contemplating whether or not to go to school in the morning. Had it not been for the fact that springs break began in three days she probably would have just skipped the rest of the week all together. Teachers, however, made that rather difficult by giving tests that you couldn't make up.

Just as her eyes had closed and she was about to doze off she felt her phone vibrate on the pillow next to her. It was a text message from Matt. Her heart skipped a beat.

**Yamato: **_Mimi called me and told me what happened. I'm so, so, so sorry about everything Sora. I'm sorry that I got you in trouble with your mom to the point where you felt like you had to move out. I hope everything with your mom works out; I really do, because I know how much this is going to upset you tomorrow. I'm also sorry for taking advantage of you. You're really vulnerable right now and I think we might have gone a little too far…_

"Wonderful," Sora said to herself, "He regrets it."

Just as she had finished saying it to herself another text message popped up.

**Yamato: **_And just for the record… I don't regret it at all._

**To be continued…**

**Well, well, well! The sexual tension has been released. But how is going to affect their relationship now? Will they be okay or will things only get more awkward? Continue reading and find out! Review!**

* * *


	4. Awkward

**Disclaimer - I don't own it.**

**Well, I can't believe I actually found the time to update a chapter. Don't expect more any time soon this was kind of a fluke haha. It's not really that great of a chapter but whatever I don't care. Like it, hate it, whatev. Thanks for reading!**

**Chapter Four – Awkward**

"All right people, it's time to pay up!" Mimi said as she stuck out her hand and her friends groaned as they placed money into it.

"I can't believe you guys bet this much money on something so stupid. How much did you end up winning anyways?" Sora wondered.

"Two hundred big ones!" Mimi said with a satisfied smile on her face

"This is ridiculous. I can't believe Sora made the first move," Tai groaned.

"I have to say that I'm not surprised," Izzy commented, he was one of the smart ones that didn't get involved in the bet.

"Why do you say that?" Sora wondered.

"The sexual tension between the two of you was outstanding. Matt's too much of a dumbass to make any kind of a first move. You probably would have kicked his butt if he took advantage of you."

"You make a good point."

The two minute warning bell for class rang and everyone except Mimi and Sora parted ways. They had the next class together.

"So have you seen or talked to Matt at all today?" Mimi wondered once they were alone.

"No. Usually I see him between my first two classes since our lockers are so close but I think he's avoiding me. Good thing because I'm not really looking forward to that awkward conversation," Sora replied.

"What did I tell you last night? It's only awkward if you make it that way."

"Well, whatever I'm just not ready to face him yet."

"You can't avoid him forever."

"Watch me. I don't live next door to him any more so I never have to see him again unless it's by accident."

"I give it a week before you two hook up again."

Sora laughed, "Yeah, okay."

Sora and Mimi walked into class and took their seats. The teacher began the day with a pop quiz causing everyone to groan in annoyance. Mimi pulled out a piece of paper once the quiz was over and wrote a note then passed it to Sora.

_So since you're not living with your mom any more are you going to Okinawa with us for spring break?_

Sora read the note and rolled her eyes. She wasn't really big on going out of town and drinking all night just to black out and wake up to drink again. If Tai and Mimi were both going to be there, it would definitely just be a week long drinking fest. But with the way things were happening lately, she had to admit it didn't sound like such a bad idea.

**I haven't decided yet.**

Mimi took back the note and rolled her eyes before scribbling on the paper.

_Oh come on! There is absolutely nothing stopping you from coming. You and me and Kari and Yolie can all road trip down there early and just have a girls night and the boys will come down the next day. If you really want to get the thought of you and Matt almost having sex out of your head then you __**need**__ to come to the beach with us and drink until everything is forgotten!_

Just as Mimi went to pass the note back to her the teacher walked by and snatched it up.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" He said opening up the note, "Passing notes during class is a big no, no."

"Oh my gosh please don't read that out loud," Mimi said.

"Well, I wasn't going to but now I think I will."

Mimi put her head down on her desk in embarrassment as the teacher began reading.

"Miss Tachikawa wants to know if Miss Takenouchi is going with her to Okinawa for spring break. Miss Takenouchi replies that she doesn't know yet. In turn, Miss Tachikawa says there's nothing to stop her from going. Something about a road trip and meeting the boys later. Then she mentions getting the thought of her almost having sexual relations with… oh. I think that's enough."

"What! It was just getting good!" Some guy in the back row shouted, "Sexual relations with who?"

"This conversation is over. Eyes on the board everyone unless you want detention."

* * *

"It finally happened," Tai said with a huge smile on his face once he found Matt after school.

"What finally happened?" Matt replied.

"You and Sora hooked up!"

Tai was then pushed against a chain link fence with Matt's hand covering his mouth. After the surrounding people stopped staring he let him go.

"Would you shut your big mouth! Do you want the whole damn school to find out about that?" Matt said.

"What does it matter? Everyone's going to know eventually when you guys get married."

Matt rolled his eyes, "We're not even dating. Besides, I don't think Sora even wants to talk to me now. She's been avoiding me all day."

"Ah, she'll get over it. You can't let this ruin your friendship. You guys have way to much history to let that happen."

"Can we just drop it? Sora and I will figure this out on our own we don't need everyone butting in."

"Fine, whatever. So what are you doing for spring break?"

"Probably nothing, why?"

"Mimi's planning a trip to Okinawa. Her parents own a time share down there or something. It's a huge place right on the beach. Everyone's going."

"I'll pass."

"Oh, come on big bro!" Tk said appearing from behind them, "You have to go! The whole gang is going to be there."

"Mom's actually letting you go?" Matt wondered.

"Yeah, why wouldn't she?"

"Oh, I don't know… maybe the fact that you're fifteen years old and will be unsupervised could have something to do with it?"

"Well see that's the thing…. I may have kind of told her you''reanadultandwilltakecareofme."

Matt rolled his eyes, "Freaking wonderful. Did it ever occur to you that I might have something going on that week?"

"How could you have something going on? We're your only friends," Tai commented.

Matt was about to respond but stopped in defeat.

"You know I'm right. Just give in you know you want to go," Tai said.

"Fine, whatever. Is mom planning to give you some money to go down there? You know for a fact dad won't give me any. He'll know right away it's going toward booze."

"Yeah, mom said she'd pay both our ways down there so no worries with that," Tk replied.

"So it's settled then! I'll tell Mimi."

* * *

Sora walked in Mimi's house and sighed as she headed toward her room. Matt had successfully avoided her the entire day and didn't even bother sending a text or anything to ask how she was. She just continued to ignore it. Rejection wasn't exactly something new to her so she could handle it pretty well.

Mimi had to stay after school to take a test that she missed a week prior and her parents had already left for vacation with their friends. She had the place to herself and the silence was comforting.

After putting on a pair of sweats and pulling her hair up in a messy bun she turned on the TV and some lame soap opera was on. It wasn't long before her cell phone interrupted the silence.

"Hello?" She answered without checking the I.D.

"Sora, I think you should come home now."

"Mom?"

"Sora, please come home."

"Mom I'm not coming home."

"I think this little game of yours has gone on long enough. I don't want you mooching off of Mimi's parents."

"I'm not mooching mom they don't mind that I'm here."

"Just come home."

"What part of 'I'm not coming home' didn't you understand? You're never going to change mom. You don't respect me and you sure as hell don't appreciate me so why in the world would I even want to come home?"

"I'm not that bad, Sora. Sometimes I just get frustrated."

"Mom, I'm going to be honest. Living with you for the past eighteen years was like living in hell. For the first time in my life I'm happy. I don't want to come home."

There was a long pause and then the sound of a dial tone. Sora closed the phone and sighed again. So much for a stress free afternoon.

"Sora?" Mimi called as she shuffled into the house.

"Hey Meems," Sora replied.

"You okay? You sound upset."

"I'm fine. I just talked to my mom. She hung up on me after I told her I was never coming home."

"Oh. I'm sorry. Don't let it stress you out though. You left there for a reason."

"Yeah, I guess."

"So have you decided about Okinawa yet? Sorry about embarrassing you in class today by the way."

"It's fine. And you know what? I think I will go to Okinawa. I could use some time away. Who all is going?"

"Well, granted we leave Friday night, Saturday and Sunday it would just be you, Kari, Yolie, and me. The boys won't be coming down until Sunday night."

"Which boys?"

"Tk, Tai, Joe, Izzy, Davis, Ken… you know, the usual group."

"What about Cody? Is Matt going?"

"I have no idea. I texted him earlier but he never responded. I guess you're not the only one he's avoiding. Oh, and Cody's parents won't let him go since he's only thirteen and there won't be any parental supervision. I think he has plans anyways."

"Oh. Okay. Well, maybe I shouldn't go if Matt goes. I don't want things to be awkward the whole time."

"You know what? I'm ending this stupid awkward thing right now," Mimi said snatching Sora's cell phone.

"Mimi, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Mimi…"

"I'm making everything better."

"You're texting him aren't you!?"

"…No…"

"Mimi! Give me my phone back!"

"I don't think so."

"Mimi! Give me the damn phone!"

"Nope."

"Mimi, give me the phone!"

Sora lunged from the couch and tackled Mimi to the floor. The phone flew out of her hands and slid across the hardwood floor toward the front door. Mimi tried crawling toward the phone but Sora grabbed onto her pant leg and stopped her. The two were soon wrestling to see who could get to the phone first when the front door opened.

"My dear God…" Tai said with wide eyes.

"Is this what happens when girls hang out alone!? We should spy on them more often! I can't even imagine what happens at sleep overs!" Davis said drooling.

"Tai! Grab my phone and run!" Sora shouted.

"No, give me the phone! I'm trying to fix things between her and Matt since neither one of them has the balls to say something first!" Mimi shouted back.

"Matt's on his way over right now anyways. They can fix things when he gets here."

The two stopped wrestling and got off the floor. After straightening out their clothes Mimi offered the guys something to drink.

"Why is Matt coming over here?" Sora wondered.

"I may have told him you were still at school and he would be gone before you got back?"

Sora rolled her eyes, "Great."

"You guys have to talk to each other eventually. So you made out, so what? Get over it or hook up again. The second time isn't as awkward."

"We aren't hooking up again."

"Psh, says you. I guarantee this is not that last time Matt will tickle your fancy."

"You're disgusting."

"It's why you love me."

"If you say so. I guess there has to be a reason I put up with you. I'm going to go hide in my room now."

Sora walked away and shut the door to her bedroom. The sound of the lock clicking indicated to everyone that she wasn't ready to face Matt.

* * *

Matt never ended up coming over because something came up. Mimi gave him an earful because it was obvious he didn't want to talk to Sora. She was pissed that they were both being so immature about it.

"Where are you going?" Mimi wondered once Sora emerged from her room wearing clothing that indicated she was going out.

"I have to go get something from my mom's house. In the mad rush of me moving out I left some stuff over there that I need. I'll be back later," Sora replied.

"I can come with you if you don't want to face her alone."

Sora smirked, "I think I'll be fine. If anything she'll be locked in her bathroom with a bottle of wine listening to lame music from the 80's. Unless my dads home she doesn't really leave her room. Or work for that matter."

"All right. Well, call if you need me."

"Will do."

Sora put on her shoes and was out the door. The drive to her moms house was peaceful. She hoped that Toshiko was elsewhere so she could get her things and be gone before her mother even noticed.

Upon pulling up to the house she noticed no lights on and no cars in the driveway.

"Well, better make this quick," she said to herself as she got out of the car.

Walking up to the door she fumbled for her keys in the dark. After much frustration she stuck the key in the lock only to be stopped cold.

"What the?" She said to herself as the key wouldn't turn. She grumbled and rolled her eyes, "You have got to be kidding me! Changing the locks because I moved out, a little dramatic mom thanks."

She thought about her options. Option one: she could go back to Mimi's and wait until her mom was home the next day. Option two: she could sit in the driveway and wait for her mom to come home. Option three: she could call her dad but had a feeling he was out of town on business. Or option four: she could walk next door to the Ishida's and see if her mom had given them a key for emergencies like she usually did.

As much as she didn't want to she ended up choosing her last option. Maybe she'd get lucky and Matt would be at band practice or something. She took her chances.

It took a minute after knocking before someone answered the door. It was Malcolm.

"Sora! What brings you here? Your dad told me you're living with Mimi now," Malcolm said.

"Yeah, my mom's crazy I had to get out. The incident the other day was kind of the last straw. Which brings me to why I'm here. Did my mom happen to give you a key by chance? She changed the locks again apparently within the last twenty four hours of my moving out."

"Oh, no I don't actually. You're welcome to stay here until she gets home if you like?"

Sora thought about it for a minute. Stay at the Ishida's and finally face Matt after their awkward hook up or get back in her car and just go home.

"You already drove all the way out here you might as well stay. She should be home soon I think she just ran to the grocery store," Malcolm commented.

Defeated she replied, "All right. I'll wait."

* * *

**To be continued....**

**So they're gonna have to finally face each other. Will things go back to the way they were or will their hidden feelings for each other get in the way? Review!**


	5. Spring Break!

**Disclaimer - I own nothing.**

**Chapter Five - Spring Break!**

Sora sat on the couch in the Ishida's living room anxiously waiting for her mother to come home. She hoped Toshiko would get there before Matt decided to show up. She wasn't ready to face him just yet. Things were too… awkward in her opinion. She'd never hooked up with anyone before; well, not like she had with him at least. The fact that he was a good friend didn't help much either.

"Are you hungry?" Malcolm said startling Sora.

"No, I'm all right. Thank you though," Sora replied quickly.

Malcolm brought a bowl of what appeared to be rice and a vegetable mix into the living room and sat in the chair across from Sora. She tried her best to avoid eye contact but it wasn't working considering he was staring at her.

"Sora, relax," Malcolm finally said.

"I'm sorry I'm just really wishing my mom would hurry up," she replied.

"I'm guessing you haven't talked to my son since… well, you know?"

Sora sighed, "No, I haven't. It's just so weird. Matt's my friend, seriously. Just my friend. But that… I don't even know what happened. I think it was just all the built up stress with my mom and then I got a detention and a teacher yelled at me and everyones been prying into my life lately it all just kind of happened so fast. But now I don't even know what to think."

That was the one thing Sora liked the most about Matt's dad: he listened. He always listened to her problems even since she was a kid. He didn't judge no matter how embarrassing the situation may have been. She could talk to him about anything.

"You know, situations like that only get awkward if you avoid talking about it," Malcolm replied.

"That's what Mimi said too."

"Well, it's true. You two just need to sit down and talk. Maybe it will make the tension decrease a little. He's been worried about you, you know."

"What? Why would he be worried about me?"

"He feels responsible for you moving out of your moms. He feels like it's his fault that you were pushed to that extreme."

Sora scoffed, "He's being ridiculous. It's not his fault. It's my moms fault. I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions and yet she still treats me like a child. She always has. Sometimes I wonder if things would be different had I not of been an only child."

"Maybe that's why she's so tough on you."

"Why? Because I'm an only child?"

"Yes. You're her only child. If she loses you she has nothing. She's tough on you because she wants you to succeed in life. You favor her whether you believe it or not."

"I favor her? Are you crazy! She's so stubborn! She's thick-headed, doesn't see reason and doesn't like to be wrong! I - oh, wait I see what you mean."

A smile found Malcolm's lips as he tried not to laugh.

"She's just so difficult," Sora said burying her head in her hands, "It's not like I wanted to move out. I felt like I had to. Maybe to teach her a lesson or something. Or just to find some sanity. I don't know. I don't plan on living with Mimi forever. If anything I'll end up coming back after spring break. Maybe she will cool off by then."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. You're young you'll figure it all out."

A car door shutting from outside made Sora jerk her head up. She got up off the couch and went the front door thinking it was her mom. Upon opening the door she ended up running straight into someone which almost knocked her to the ground. A strong hand grabbed her arm before she fell. She looked up to see her savior only to become lost in an ocean of blue eyes. Her heart almost stopped beating.

"Sora?" Matt said suddenly, "What are you doing here?"

Sora blinked and pulled her arm away to straighten herself up, "I was waiting for my mom to get home so I could get some stuff I need."

"How long have you been here?"

"No long. She's taking forever though. I'll come back tomorrow."

She pushed past him to get to her car and he grabbed her hand before she could leave.

"Well, wait," Matt said.

"What?"

"Don't you want to talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Oh, come on Sora. You can't avoid me forever we need to talk about this."

"I have nothing to say about it."

"Sora, quit being stubborn and just freaking talk to me."

"I have to go, Matt."

"God, could you be an adult for once in your life? I mean seriously."

"Let. Me. Go." She stared him in the eyes.

Admitting defeat he let her hand go and she all but ran to her car. She got in and drove away without even looking back.

* * *

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mimi said as soon as Sora walked in the front door.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked.

"Matt just texted me and told me what happened. Why are you so damn stubborn that you can't even sit down and talk to him? He feels like crap about what happened, Sora. He wants to talk about it."

"You know what, I got enough of this from him I don't need it from you too."

"You have to talk to him sometime you can't avoid him forever."

"Watch me."

"Immature much?"

"Just stay out of it, Mimi. It's none of your business."

"Sora, you're my best friend so therefore I make it my business. I don't like to see you upset."

"I'm not upset Mimi I just need to think and be left alone. Stop bugging me about it I will talk to Matt when I'm ready. Just stay out of it!"

Sora walked to her room and slammed the door. Mimi just rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.

**Mimi:** Well, I tried but she's not budging. God she can be so difficult sometimes.

**Matt**: Sigh… well, thanks for trying. She has always been difficult that's nothing new. I just wish she'd talk to me.

**Mimi:** She's probably embarrassed about it. Sora doesn't exactly have that much experience in situations like that.

**Matt:** I know and I feel like I took advantage of her. She's been vulnerable because of her mom and whatever lately and when she kissed me, idk something just clicked. I didn't want to stop even though I probably should have.

**Mimi:** Omg!

**Matt:** What?

**Mimi: **Omg you're totally in love with her aren't you?

**Matt:** *Rolls eyes* I'm not in love with her Mimi. She's my friend.

**Mimi**: So you guys keep saying but who gives a shit? Friends can be more than friends if the situation presents itself. I say go for it! You two would make a really cute couple.

**Matt:** Mimi this is ridiculous. We are friends. We hooked up. So what? It doesn't mean I'm in love with her or anything.

**Mimi: **Yeah, ok. You keep telling yourself that. You've been in love with her since the day you moved in next door.

**Matt:** Whatever. This conversation is done. I just want her to talk to me. I want my friend to talk to me.

**Mimi:** Just give her time. She'll come around. Or we can just lock you two in a room for a couple of hours and see how it goes from there… ;)

**Matt:** Geeze. Goodnight Mimi.

**Mimi:** Night! :)

* * *

Friday finally rolled around and after much groveling and begging Mimi finally convinced Sora to go to Okinawa with her and the others for spring break. She promised things like long hours on the beach and separate ends of the beach house so she wouldn't have to see Matt and endless amounts of alcohol to finally convince her.

Mimi hugged her parents one last time before leaving for their almost 3 hour road trip to Okinawa.

"Credit cards and emergency numbers are in the counsel of your car. The beach house is already taken care and you have the key. I already went ahead and called to have the house stocked with food and everything else you'll need for the week so you don't have to worry," Mimi's dad said before they departed.

"Thanks dad you guys are great. See you next week!" Mimi said cheerfully.

"Have a great time. Be safe!"

"We will! Love you both!"

Mimi hit the gas and they were off. Sora sat in the passenger seat and Kari and Yolie resided in the back.

"I'm so excited! I can't wait to get there this week is going to be so kick ass!" Mimi squealed.

"I'm just ready to be laying on the beach!" Yolie said and then daydreamed about the days to come. She and Kari then began talked about the things they would have to do while they were there.

Sora sat in the front seat quietly just watching the road go by. Mimi noticed and poked her on the arm getting her attention.

"Cheer up grouchy! This week is supposed to be fun. If you are going to be a party pooper the entire time I'm going to ship you back via taxi," Mimi stated.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired," Sora lied.

"Well, you better wake your ass up. I have cocktails and hot waiters in mind as soon as we get there."

"I'm fine, seriously. I just don't like car rides."

"Well, it's only about 3 hours away so no worries we will be there before you know it."

She was right. The car ride went smoothly. They only had to stop once for food because Yolie was complaining about how she hadn't eaten all day and needed something before she passed out. Other than that they were good. Lack of other drivers on the road made the trip quicker much to Sora's delight.

As soon as Mimi pulled up to the beach house the other girls in the car ooed and awed. The place was absolutely massive. The best part about it, it was on it's own private beach so they could be as loud as they pleased and no one would care.

The front door opened up to a large living room/kitchen area. Off to the side was a formal dining area decorated with anything and everything beach-friendly a person could think of. The kitchen had a small breakfast area that would fit six people comfortably. Also on the main level were two bedrooms each equipped with king size beds and full bathrooms.

Upon further investigation the girls discovered the next level (which was split into what could have been two homes) was basically a party floor. There was a pool table, large plasma TV, stereo system, video game systems, bean bags large enough to fit two people, and two bedrooms down a hallway. The bedrooms included bunkbeds and a twin bed to accommodate three people. The rooms shared a large bathroom that served as a walk through between them.

"This will be where the boys are staying," Mimi stated as if it wasn't obvious. She led the girls across a walkway that overlooked the first level. It was the only thing that separated the boys side of the house from the girls.

On the other side it was a completely different set up. There was a sitting area with a pull out couch and love seat and full living room set up. Two bedrooms also branched off of this half of the house except there were queen beds in the rooms and walk-in closets. These rooms also shared a bathroom that connected them.

"All right," Mimi said before they walked up the last flight of stairs, "I hope you guys have prepared because you might crap your pants if you haven't."

She was right. What they saw on the third floor took them all by surprise. The stairs flowed up to a room that looked like a night club. There was a fully stocked bar with every type of alcohol and beer you could think of. It appeared as though the area once served as an office of sorts because in the corner sat a desk with a large mac computer. But no one was really paying attention to that. It was all about the bar.

"Someone's going to die this weekend," Kari said.

"It's probably going to be me," Yolie said as she wandered to see what the bar held in store for the week.

"Goodness Mimi do your parents know that they're borderline alcoholics?" Sora said with a laugh.

"Them? I'm the only one that ever comes here!" Mimi laughed, "They're here maybe once during the year if that. It's mostly me that's here. They don't even know about all the alcohol because they never come up here. We have a guy that comes and stocks the house when he knows I'm coming into town. I spend a lot of time here during the summer."

"And yet we've never been here. You lied when you said you were visiting family over the summer," Yolie said.

"Well, let's get settled. Kari and Yolie, you two will be staying in the rooms on the middle floor. Sora and I will be on the main floor. The boys will have the two remaining rooms on their side of the house. Lucky for us they won't be here until Sunday so we have two full days of doing whatever the hell we want," Mimi said.

"This is going to be the craziest week of my life. I really hope someone doesn't die…." Sora said.

"No one's going to die. It will be awesome. Who's ready for cocktails!"

* * *

Once the girls settled into their rooms they didn't waste any time pre-gaming before hitting up the town. Mimi made drinks while they got ready to go out. Margaritas became the drink of choice amongst them.

"All right," Mimi said finishing off her drink, "No more of this fruity crap. Who's ready to take some shots?"

Kari grimaced at the thought of shooting straight liquor. She was kind of a light weight. Yolie wasn't too fond of the idea either.

"I guess it's just us," Mimi said handing a shot to Sora, "To the best damn week of our lives."

Sora stared at the clear liquid in the shot glass. She knew she'd probably regret this later, "Oh, what the hell!"

They clinked their glasses together and took the shots. And boy were they strong.

Sora choked, "Mimi, what the hell was that?"

Mimi poured another shot to get ready for round two, "Silver tequila. The best of the best. Here you go."

"This is going to be a bad, bad night…" Sora said and they took another shot.

* * *

Mimi and Sora became more than tipsy so they all just decided to order pizza and stay in for the night. The music blasted from the upstairs and the drinks continued to flow. Other party-goers on spring break made their way from the beach to their house and they all had a great time.

"Mimi, I think I should stop drinking," Sora said as she and her best friend danced to the music blasting on the radio.

"Awe, where's the fun in that? It's not like you have to wake up early! Just have a good time that's what we're here for!" Mimi shouted over the music. Some random guy walked up to her and she danced with him.

Sora just shook her head and walked off. She was intoxicated and the room was beginning to spin. She figured with Mimi distracted she wouldn't notice her disappearance.

She stumbled to her room and locked the door behind her. It was peaceful being alone, minus the noise from the living room but she got over that quickly. She laid on the bed and watched the ceiling spin. A quick glance at the clock indicated it was way past midnight. She was done for the night. She had two options: either stop drinking and have a slight hang over the next day or keep drinking with Mimi and end up puking the whole next day. She wasn't like Mimi, she couldn't just keep drinking until she passed out. Mimi held her liquor extremely well. Sora was pretty good at it too but she also knew her limit.

The silence was probably worse than the noise and alcohol as a distraction. Once she was alone she began thinking. And thinking while drunk was a bad combination. She sat up and fumbled around the room for her phone. Once she finally found it she saw that there were some unanswered text messages waiting for her.

The first one was from Tai.

**Tai:** How's the beach house? I can't believe we have to wait to come down until Sunday this is so freaking lame. I want to be there now. Stupid Ken and his stupid tests. Oh, not sure if anyone told you guys yet but Joe and Izzy won't be joining us this week. Something about college exams and computer crap. I don't even know. Just thought you should know.

Sora couldn't see straight but tried as hard as she could to respond back.

**Sora:** That sucks abut Izz and Joe… the house is awsumm. Lots an lots of tequila… hmm :)

It took a good ten minutes before he responded. She assumed he was asleep since it was so late.

**Tai:** LOL well someone's been drinking. Be careful don't get yourself in trouble. I'll call you in the morning to make sure no one died. Night, sor.

**Sora:** Goonite! :D

Sora read through the other messages. There was one from Izzy and one from Joe both explaining their reasons as to why they couldn't make the trip. There was one from Tk asking her to keep an eye on Kari until he got there. He was worried. Always worried. And then there was one from Matt.

Yamato: I'm sorry.

Sora stared at the phone for a minute. Sorry? She wondered. What was he sorry for? Instead of attempting to text him back and miserably fail at it she decided to call.

The phone rang and rang and it finally went to voicemail.

"This is Matt. You know what to do. BEEP!"

"Matt… it's Sora," she said trying extremely hard not to slur her words, "If anyone should be sorry it should be me. I attacked you it wasn't fair of me. You shouldn't have to apologize for something you weren't responsible for. You didn't push me away but for the record I didn't want you to." She paused trying to think of what else to say, "I'm not mad at you. I'm just… confused I guess. I don't know this whole thing is so confusing. Can things just go back to the way they were before this ever happened? I miss your face and how you make snide comments just to piss me off but in the end we just laugh about it because that's what friends do. They forgive each other. And again… I'm sorry…" The phone beeped indicating the message cut off. She hung up the phone and ended up falling asleep.

* * *

**TBC**

**I can't believe I actually updated a chapter. Not sure if anyone will read it or if anyone even still comes on this website but oh well. Enjoy!**


	6. It's Nothing

**Disclaimer - I don't own anything.**

**Chapter 6 - It's Nothing**

".God." Sora muttered to herself as soon as she woke up the next morning.

She rolled over in her bed and came face-to-face with the morning sunshine; which was extremely bright. She quickly shaded her eyes and moaned as she pulled a pillow over her head. A small knock on the door alerted her.

"Sor? You awake?" Mimi said from behind a cracked door.

"Ugh…" Was all she replied.

"Oh good!"

Mimi pranced across the room in the best of moods which Sora thought was a bit much considering how hungover she felt.

"How in the world are you not throwing up right now?" Sora wondered.

"Oh honey, I quit drinking way before any of you did," Mimi replied.

"Wait… what? How is that? You're the one that kept trying to get me to take shots up until I passed out. You were also taking a bunch of shots with those guys. And you dominated at beer pong."

"Want to know my secret?"

"Uhm obviously. I feel like shit."

"When someone asks you to take a shot, chase it with a beer."

Sora stared at her dumbfounded, "I don't get it."

"Here, come in the kitchen and I'll demonstrate."

Sora reluctantly followed Mimi into the kitchen and then sat in a bar stool. She watched as Mimi grabbed a bottle of what appeared to be expensive whiskey and poured a shot glass full. She then retrieved a beer from the fridge and opened it.

"Here's what you do," Mimi said holding the shot glass in her right hand and the beer bottle in her left, "When someone asks you to take a shot," she took the shot and soar cringed at the thought of liqour. She then chased it with the beer. Sora still didn't get it. Mimi figured that by the puzzled look on her face.

"You don't actually drink the shot silly. You spit it out in the beer. It just gives the illusion that you are drinking but you're really not."

Sora eyes widened. She wondered why she'd never thought of that, "Mimi! You're a genius!"

"What can I say?" She replied with a laugh.

"I need coffee…"

Sora got up from the chair and started a pot, "So are Yolie and Kari still sleeping?"

"Of course. They're light weights. They passed out before you did or slightly after."

"Oh."

"So question…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember calling Matt last night?"

Sora eyes widened and she turned out to face Mimi, "You're joking right?"

Mimi smirked, "Why would I joke about that? He called this morning and said you left him a really long message on his phone. He said he tried calling back but your phone was off."

"Holy crap. I must have called him not knowing what the hell I was doing. Great."

"It's not a big deal. All you did was tell him how much you miss him and how you can't wait to see his face."

"Shut the fuck up. Are you serious?"

"Yep!"

"I'm an idiot…. Well, I guess I can't not to talk to him once he gets here. Apparently my drunken self wanted to talk to him. Why can't I bring my sober self to want that…?"

"You do want to talk to him you're just scared things are going to be different now that you've hooked up."

"I guess. I mean, it's not like I'm in love with him or anything. But we definitely went beyond what friends are supposed to do. What happens now?"

"Unless you two pursue something I'd say nothing. Tai and I have hooked up and we're not together. It's not like it's a big deal."

"Yeah, but you want to be with Tai. That's the difference."

"True. But who knows? We have a whole week ahead of us. Alcohol and teenage hormones are a very bad combination especially when there's sexual tension like you two have."

"I'll just try avoiding being alone with him when we're drinking. I don't need a repeat of what happened."

"Okay, okay. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Well, let's wake up Kari and Yolie. It's almost noon and I am ready to be laying on the beach!"

* * *

"This is the life!" Mimi said with a smile as they set up their places on the beach and soaked up the bright, warm sun. She opened her cooler and popped open a Bud Light. Sora was the only one that agreed to drink with her.

"What a beautiful beach. I never thought Okinawa was this beautiful!" Yolie commented behind large sunglasses and an oversized hat.

Kari made a grunting sound and Sora just smiled. Kari was still hungover from the night before. She made a vow to not drink any more on this trip. She wasn't much of a partier. She usually preferred to just sit back and watch everyone else make idiots of themselves. She was kind of like that voice in the back of your head that tells you what you're doing is stupid but you ignore it.

"You know, for it being spring break I'm surprised there aren't more people here," Mimi speculated.

"I know right? Where are all the hot guys from last night?" Yolie whined.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be out. Just be patient."

All of the girls heads turned when Sora's cell phone began ringing loudly from her bag. She fumbled to find it but got to it before the last ring.

"Hello?" She said.

"Change of plans!" Tai shouted into the other line, "Ken got to take his college exams early so we will be there today instead of tomorrow!"

"Oh, that's good. What time will you be here?"

"We just packed up the car and are on the road. We will be there in about two hours."

"Well cool I guess we'll see you in two hours!"

"Tell the others. See you soon!"

"Bye."

"Peace!"

"What was that all about?" Mimi wondered as Sora closed the phone.

"Apparently Ken's exams ended early so the boys are on their way," Sora replied.

"Awesome! Finally some entertainment! No offense, but I need some of Davis's stupid comments to keep me going throughout the day," Yolie said.

"I think we all need some of Davis's idiotic comments to get us through the day," Kari commented, "I can't wait until Tk gets here. Then there will be at least one other sober person here during this trip."

"Okay, mom," Mimi teased, "I apologize now if you all see more of Tai and I this week than you ever wanted to. Alcohol makes me kind of…."

"Horny?" Sora finished, "Believe me, we know."

Mimi laughed, "Well hey at least I'm a fun drunk… even if I do get a little more than friendly. I could start a lot of drama and make you all hate me if you prefer."

"No thank you," Kari replied.

"So two hours until they get here?" Mimi confirmed.

"Two hours…" Sora replied. _Two hours until I have to face Matt…_ Sora thought to herself.

* * *

Those two hours came extremely quick. Mimi was reluctant to leave the beach but she was anxious to see Tai and the others. She and Sora had managed to finish a six pack of beers each and that mixed with the hot sun caused them to get tipsy faster than they should have. Mimi acted overly happy to see them while Sora kind of said hey and went to hide in her room. She was definitely not ready to face Matt yet. She planned to avoid him altogether if she could.

"I'm so happy you're here!" Mimi squealed wrapping her arms around each of them and giving them long hugs.

"Okay! Hi Meems!" Ken said with a laugh, "How much have you had to drink today?"

"Just a few beers it's cool," she replied with a lop-sided smile.

"Well you guys get settled in then we can figure out what to do from there," Yolie said.

"Good idea!" Mimi said, "Come on, I'll show you to your rooms."

Mimi led the boys up the stairs to the second floor. Davis about freaked when he saw the pool table and video game set up.

"Tai and Matt you two can stay in here and Ken and Davis the connecting room is yours," Mimi said.

"Thanks Meems this place is great," Matt said.

Mimi strolled up to Tai as the guys began unpacking their things, "You know…" she said stroking his arm, "My room is just below yours… and that big old bed gets kind of lonely when you're sleeping alone…"

She didn't need to go into any more detail for Tai to get the point. The two started flirting and Matt rolled his eyes.

"Gag me dude seriously," Matt said, "I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"Yeah, see you dude," Tai replied not even paying attention.

Matt walked down the stairs and into the main level living room. It was empty. Kari was upstairs with Tk talking, Davis and Ken immediately hit up the xbox along with Yolie, Mimi and Tai were probably having sex by now, and Sora was no where to be seen. He decided now was the best time to talk everything out since it was quiet; regardless of the fact that she'd been drinking.

He took a guess that one of the back rooms down the hallway was hers. He tried the one on the left first but found it empty. He approached the second door and knocked lightly. A thud came from the other side followed by an "Ow!". The door then swung open quickly.

"Matt!" Sora said surprised.

"Hey Sora…" Matt replied.

They stared at each other for a minute before speaking.

"Can we talk?" He finally said.

"Um, yeah, sure…" Sora said opening the door for him to come in.

Matt walked over and sat on the bed. Sora shut the bedroom door and followed. She sat next to him but avoided contact. It was he who finally broke the silence.

"Look, about what happened…"

"Don't," Sora interrupted, "You don't have to apologize for anything. It was my fault. I was in a bad place and took advantage of the situation. I wasn't thinking. It just kind of happened. I just want things to go back to the way they were. I don't want this to affect our friendship. That's something I don't want to lose just because we had a momentary lapse of judgment. I mean it was just a kiss… right? It didn't really mean anything…"

"I guess. You're right though. I don't want to ruin our friendship either. I don't know what I'd do if you just stopped talking to me. I wouldn't have anyone to pick on any more," Matt winked and nudged her with his shoulder.

Sora laughed. Everything was a little fuzzy from the alcohol. She forgot how fun it was just joke around with him, even if he did piss her off half the time.

"The kiss didn't really mean anything…" Matt said.

"No," Sora agreed, "Not at all."

They fell silent again. It was an akward silence.

"Kiss me," Sora said suddenly.

"What?" He replied surprised.

"I said kiss me."

"I heard what you said I wanted to know why."

"To prove to ourselves that what happened really didn't mean anything."

"We don't have to prove anything."

"I want to. Now, kiss me."

"Sora, I don't think this is a good idea. I have a feeling that's the alcohol talking."

"I'm fine. I didn't drink that much."

"I know you had enough to get you drunk."

"Just freaking kiss me, damn it! Why is this so hard?"

"Sora…"

She threw herself at him. Her hands grabbed onto the sides of his face and she pressed her lips against his with a lot of force. He tried to push her away. He knew she'd been drinking and would probably regret this in the morning. Only problem was, she refused to budge. Her fingers tangled into his hair as she pressed her body against his. He resisted the urge to fight her any more.

The entire world spun. Sora was lost in his kiss. She subconsciously wrapped her legs around his waist and the two fell backwards onto the bed. Matt's hands began roaming up and down her thighs and across her back. She was still in her bathing suit so had he wanted to remove something it wouldn't take much. Maybe it was the alcohol but at that moment her life felt complete; like she and Matt belonged together. They weren't fighting it. What was a little kiss between two friends? It couldn't hurt. She did it to prove a point. A point that miserably failed in her attempt to prove there was nothing more than a friendship here. That was obviously untrue.

Matt positioned himself so that he was now on top of her. He kissed her neck making her whole body tingle. She let her hands roam under his shirt. Her nails dug into his back when he playfully nibbled on her ear. It was just like in his room a couple nights ago except this time there were no parents to walk in and interrupt them. They were alone and could do whatever they wanted.

Their lips met again and now neither of them wanted to stop. Well, until there was a loud knock at the door. Matt pulled away and jumped up off the bed instantly. Sora sat up and straightened her clothes and hair.

"Yeah?" Sora answered with a cracked voice.

"Have you seen Matt? We're all getting ready to go to dinner and we can't find him," Mimi called from the other side of the door.

"I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay."

Mimi walked away leaving the two alone again. Sora sighed. They were always interrupted. She took it as a sign that they were doing something they shouldn't be doing.

"See?" Sora stated suddenly, "The kiss meant nothing."

They were instantly on each other again. This time it was more fierce. They didn't care about dinner or anything else. They were consumed with each other and at that moment that was all that mattered... until Matt pulled away.

"We can't do this," he said.

"Why? It's already started. Why fight it?" She said trying to kiss him again.

Matt grabbed her wrists before she could do anything else. The scent of alcohol on her breath was what stopped him, "If you still feel this way tomorrow then we can go from there. I really think a lot of this is the alcohol."

Sora became furious. She went from blissful and happy to pissed off and enraged. She felt rejected. She didn't even feel that intoxicated, even though she knew she was. Unfortunately alcohol gave her more courage to do things she wouldn't normally do.

"You're an asshole," she spat.

"I know you don't mean that," Matt replied, "It's the alcohol talking."

"Whatever. I get it, you don't want me whatever it's fine. I was just trying to prove a stupid point and I guess I was right. This means nothing. We mean nothing. We're friends and that's it."

Matt stood there silent. He didn't want to fight with her. She was already pissed off at him enough and he didn't want to spark any more anger so he did what he felt he had to do: he left.

"I'm sorry," he said before she slammed the door in his face.

Sora walked over to the bed and pouted. She was embarrassed. She didn't take rejection very well. She knew what she felt was real there was no denying it now. She wanted him more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life. She'd never had that feeling before and it scared her. She felt like he didn't feel the same which is why he stopped her. _Who could blame him?_ She thought. _Matt's the hottest guy in school. Why the hell would he want someone ordinary like me? I'm nobody. Just the girl next door..._

She sighed and buried her head in her hands. She refused to cry though. She heard a knock on the door again.

"We found Matt! Get ready, we're going to dinner," Mimi shouted.

"All right give me half an hour," Sora replied casually.

"Hurry!"

Sora stood up and decided to put Matt in the back of her head. She wasn't going to let this ruin her spring break. If he wanted to play hard to get then fine. Two could play that game.

"Mimi! I need you!" Sora shouted. _Two can play this game, Matt. If you don't want me, that's fine. I'll just show you what you're missing…

* * *

_

_**TBC...**_

_**Wow, I can't believe I'm still updating haha. I forgot how much I enjoyed writing these stories. They're fun. I appreciate those who still read/review this story you're great. I have free time again so I guess I'll keep chapters coming... no promises though. Oh well. Enjoy and thanks again!**_


	7. Mind Games

**Disclaimer - I own nothing.**

**Well, I've had this chapter for a while. I've been debating whether or not to upload it. I guess the decisions been made... Enjoy!**

**Chapter 7 - Mind Games**

"So I'm confused," Mimi said as she watched Sora ransack her closet, "You never wear dresses let alone anything to show off your figure. The only thing I ever see you in that's remotely close to sexy is your tennis uniform. Why the sudden change?"

"We're on spring break," Sora said throwing something else out of the closet, "I can be whoever I want to be here and not worry about what anyone thinks. This," she said finally getting her hands of what she was looking for, "This is exactly what I'm talking about. This will definitely turn some heads…"

Mimi stared at her still confused. Sora never acted like this. Usually her attire consisted of sweat pants and a tank top. Never in her life did she think Sora would actually want to play dress and impress anyone. She decided to go along with it. If Sora was doing this for a reason Mimi wasn't going to stop her.

"Go put it on. I know you'll look beautiful in it," Mimi said supportively.

Sora dashed into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Mimi just rolled her eyes and shook her head. She'd already done Sora's make up and made her hair look amazing, at least by her standards. The dress Sora chose was something that would definitely catch attention considering there wasn't much to it. Mimi had a smaller figure and didn't have as many curves as Sora so it just looked plain when she wore it. Sora, being curvy and having a decent bust size, would probably make someone faint. She may be a tomboy most of the time but she definitely cleaned up nicely.

"Are you guys ready yet? We're starving what is taking so long?" Tai said letting himself into Mimi's room.

"Sora should be out in a minute," Mimi replied.

"What is she doing in there? She never spends this much time getting ready. Is she sick or something?"

Sora suddenly emerged from the bathroom in Mimi's dress. Mimi was right, she was a knock out. Tai did a double take and then freaked out.

"Sora!" He said grabbing a shirt off the floor, "What the hell are you wearing! Cover yourself up you're going to give people the wrong idea!"

He threw the shirt at her but she just put it on the floor, "I look like this intentionally. Mimi wears this dress all the time it's no big deal."

"Uh yeah but that's Mimi. You're not supposed to wear stuff like that."

"Why is that?"

"You'll draw too much attention to yourself."

Sora smirked, "Perfect."

She strutted past him trying as hard as she could not to fall in the heels Mimi had lent her to go with the dress. She walked out of the room and down the hallway. Tai poked his head around the corner and watched her walk away.

"What the hell is going on?" Tai wondered.

"Got me. She's the one that chose that outfit not me. I think she looks hot," Mimi replied.

"She's not supposed to look hot! She's Sora!"

"Let her do what she wants. Let's go have some fun!"

Sora walked into the living room and right past everyone. Every single person in that room did a double take as she walked by and out the door.

"Holy shit!" Davis said, "Was that Sora?"

"Uh… yeah," Tk replied.

"Sweet mother of God," Ken said.

"Oh my gosh stop drooling it's just Sora," Kari said kind of jealous that Tk was checking her out.

"Sora actually looks…. sexy! I mean, not that she wasn't good looking before but damn…" Davis stated, "Excuse me."

He jumped up from his chair and dashed out the door. He was soon followed by both Ken and Tk.

"What the hell was that?" Yolie wondered as Mimi and Tai joined them, "Sora looks… hot!"

"I'm a miracle worker," Mimi laughed, "Are you all ready?"

"Yeah, let's go. Hopefully Sora won't cause too much attention while we're out…" Kari said.

Everyone walked out of the house and Matt just sighed.

"Sora, why are you doing this…" He mumbled to himself as they left.

* * *

"Hottie three o'clock," Mimi whispered to Sora at dinner.

Sora casually glanced in the direction Mimi mentioned and noticed a guy with dark brown hair and ice blue eyes staring her way. He smiled once their eyes met. She grinned back and turned away.

"He is hot," Sora whispered back.

Their dinner was set outside on the beach. They sat on blankets in the sand at a table kind of like you would in Hawaii. There was live entertainment, dancing, and a lot of spring breakers.

"Would you stop staring? She's not going anywhere," Yolie scolded as Davis drooled over this new Sora that no one had ever seen.

"It's kind of hard when she looks like that," Davis replied.

"Sora cleans up nicely," Tk said.

Kari rolled her eyes. She knew it wasn't Sora's intention to make these young boys drool over her but did she really have to wear something that flaunted her body like she did? Kari just didn't like that Tk was paying so much attention to someone else.

"Let's dance!" Mimi said pulling Sora up off the floor. The two shuffled away and began dancing with the rest of the crowd.

Matt rolled his eyes, "What the hell is her problem?"

"Who?" Tai wondered.

"Sora! She's out there flaunting herself and not giving a shit about it."

"As much as I hate to say it she's just trying to have a good time. I just didn't ever think I'd see this much of her at once. She's my best friend it's kind of weird."

"She needs to calm down and put some clothes on."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Tai said just as a waitress came by with a tray full of shots. Tai grabbed one for himself and one for Matt, "Are you ready to start this week off right?"

Matt stared at the shot. Sora had managed to infuriate him which drew him to the conclusion that it was probably intentional after what had happened earlier. She was doing it for revenge. He laughed to himself. No way in hell was she going to win this game.

"To the best fucking week of our lives!" Matt said and they threw back the shots.

* * *

Yolie, Kari, Davis, Ken, and Tk decided to go back to the beach house after a couple of hours once the place got crazy packed. They all decided they could party just as easily there but without so many people getting in the way. Also, unlike the others, none of them had fake I.D.'s so getting anything with alcohol was impossible. Sora, Mimi, Tai, and Matt on the other hand refused to go anywhere.

Matt watched as guy after guy took their turns dancing with Sora and Mimi. Tai managed to squeeze his way in between them at one point and found himself in the middle of them as they all danced together.

Sora was drunk. Matt knew this because she kept taking shot after shot. Each time she danced with someone new he would buy her one. Hell, even the girls were buying her shots. She was the talk of the crowd. Everyone there wanted to be around her, including himself but he was in no state of mind to confront her. He'd either scream in her face or drag her out of that place and tie her the couch so she couldn't expose herself any more than she already was.

He continued to drink to supress his anger. It wasn't helping. As the night continued he just grew even more upset. He didn't want Sora doing what she was doing. It pissed him off to no extent. He couldn't really say much though. It wasn't like she was his girlfriend or anything so he figured he had no right to get mad. He decided finally to ignore it. She wasn't going to ruin his vacation.

The party raged into the night. The four finally returned back to the beach house somewhere around 3am when the bar closed. They were all wasted to say the least but weren't ready for the night to end just yet.

"That party was insane!" Sora said running her hands through her hair as they approached the house.

"I know! They were all loving on you tonight honey, even the girls…" Mimi laughed.

"I had a great time. I can't wait until tomorrow night we can do it again."

"Sounds like a plan! Man this is so much better than being at home and studying for useless tests. I say we hit up the hot tub out back. It will be the perfect way to end the night."

"That would be awesome!"

The girls ran into Sora's room and changed into their bikini's. Mimi managed to get ready faster so she left.

"Meet you out there!" Mimi giggled as she dashed through the house to get to the hot tub.

"Hey no fair!" Sora said back but Mimi was gone in an instant.

She was struggling to get her top to tie when suddenly Matt came storming in the room and slammed the door behind him. She jumped in surprised. He was pissed.

"What the hell was that tonight?" Matt shouted.

"Excuse me? I'm not a child don't you dare speak to me that way," Sora spat back.

"Oh yeah well you were certainly acting childish tonight. Flaunting yourself and shit for everyone to see."

"Whatever. You're not my father or my boyfriend for that matter so you cannot sit here and tell me what I can and cannot do."

"Like hell I can't. I don't want you out there acting like that any more. It's not you. You're giving people the wrong impression. You looked like a slut out there tonight ready to get into anyones pants that would offer it."

Sora laughed, "Oh, so I'm a slut now? How dare you! I've never even slept with anyone, unlike you. What's your number up to now? Fifteen? Twenty? You've slept with like half the girls in our grade! Don't you dare call me a slut when you're the one that sleeps with anything that has a vagina!"

"God you are so fucking unbelievable. I can't believe I ever even considering trying to pursue anything with you. You're so fucking stubborn and thick-headed you can't see a good thing when it's sitting right in front of you. You just continue doing what you want. I don't even give a shit any more."

"Oh, I'm sorry but in case you've forgotten you're the one that pushed me away earlier not the other way around. I was trying to prove a point that what we did meant nothing but I'd be lying to myself if I said it didn't. There's obviously something there whether you see it or not. I will do whatever the hell I want while I'm here and you can't say shit about it."

"Of course there's something there! We've both known that since the first time we kissed when we were eleven. I'd be lying before God if I said I didn't care but I do, Sora. I do care about you. You think I want to see you out there flirting with other guys? It kills me to see other guys hit on you. Whether you're doing this out of some sort of revenge or something because of what happened that's fine. I didn't want to take advantage of you while you'd been drinking. THAT is why I pushed you away earlier not because I didn't want it. But believe what you want I'm over it."

He turned to walk away. His hand touched the door knob but just as he turned the handle he was stopped by a gentle hand touching his arm. He turned around and came face-to-face with Sora. The look in her eyes said everything he wanted to hear.

* * *

"Where the hell did Sora and Matt go?" Tai wondered as he and Mimi hung out in the hot tub alone.

"Maybe they fell asleep," Mimi said scooting closer to him, "Forget about them. We're alone in a hot tub with absolutely no one to bother us…"

"Oh, baby," Tai smirked just as Mimi pressed herself against him.

* * *

Sora wrapped her arms around Matt's neck and pushed him up against the bedroom door. Their kiss intensified as Matt picked her up off the floor and led her to the bed. One by one their clothes began to come off and fall to the floor. Sora didn't have any doubt in her mind now that what they were doing was wrong. They would no longer be just friends after the night was finished. They both wanted this and they refused to fight against it any more. They let their natural instincts take over and consume them.

Sora never imagined her first time to be while she was intoxicated in someone's beach house. She never imagined her first time would be with Matt either but when it happened so quickly she didn't have time to think twice. It wasn't about where it happened for the first time it was about who it was with. She wouldn't have chosen any different.

Sex with Matt was both painful and extremely pleasurable at first. But once she got past the initial pain it was the best thing she'd ever experienced in her life. She couldn't believe she'd waited this long to experience something like this. Her body and Matt's fit together like puzzle pieces. It was like they were meant to be intertwined with each other. She loved every moment of it.

Their sexual release continued well into the night until they both passed out on the bed. It was exhausting and exciting and the best thing that had ever happened to them.

* * *

Mimi smiled when her eyes fluttered open and she saw Tai sleeping peacefully next to her. She scooted closer to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He stirred and then his eyes opened.

"Good morning," Mimi whispered still smiling.

Tai rolled over to face her and smiled also, "Good morning."

Mimi cuddled up next to him and laid there quietly. Last night was incredible and she didn't want this moment to end because she feared it soon would. Tai wrapped an arm around her shoulders and closed his eyes. He soon fell back to sleep breathing heavily while he did.

Mimi tried as hard as she could to fall back asleep but it didn't work. They'd slept in really late so she quietly slipped out of the bed and put on a robe. She walked out of the room and met the eyes of five people staring at her.

"Nice to see you finally decided to join us!" Davis said.

"Good morning everyone," Mimi laughed.

"More like good afternoon," Yolie corrected, "Damn you four sure do sleep in late."

"Four…?" Mimi questioned, "Where are Sora and Matt?"

"Not sure. We assumed Sora was in her room but I have no clue where Matt is. Maybe he went for a jog or something."

"That's weird. I wonder…"

Mimi walked back down the hallway and crept up to Sora's door. She listened trying to block out the sound of the living room TV to see whether someone or someones were actually in the room. When she heard nothing she cracked the door open slight and her eyes about popped out of her head.

"Holy shit!" She squealed to herself because of what she saw.

Laying in the bed was Sora, naked on her back underneath a sheet, and Matt laying on his stomach next to her not covered at all and just exposed for everyone to see. He had an arm draped over Sora and neither of them were moving. She guessed from the scene that they had a pretty heated night.

She shut the door quickly and left them alone. No way was she going to tell everyone what she'd just seen. She collected herself and walked back into the living room.

"Yeah, Matt must be out for a jog. Sora's still in there sleeping but no sign of Matt," Mimi lied, "I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"He's brave. How can you drink that much and then wake up and run?" Yolie wondered, "I'd get sick."

"Us men can handle anything. It's what we do," Davis boasted only causing the others to roll their eyes. They soon dropped the subject.

Mimi grabbed a cup of coffee and went back into her room. Tai was still sleeping so she decided to shower and get herself ready for the day.

* * *

Not too long later Sora breathed in heavily and woke up. She smiled. What a great dream. She thought to herself. The presence of someone else quickly alerted her.

She turned her head and saw a naked Matt laying next to her. His arm was draped over her body making it hard for her to move. She looked at herself and then at him. She was naked, he was naked. The awesome sexual bliss she'd experienced wasn't a dream at all it had actually happened.

"Alcohol is a very bad thing…" she mumbled to herself as she tried to wiggle out of Matt's arm without waking him up.

She managed to get out of the bed and tip-toed quietly to the door. She threw some clothes on and quickly exited the room but ran straight into Mimi.

"Hey!" Sora said quickly.

"Hey…" Mimi replied.

Awkward silence.

"How was your night?" Mimi said with a hinting tone in her voice.

"I think I did something bad…"

"Welcome to the club."

"I don't even know how it happened! The last thing I remember was Matt and I screaming at each other. He was pissed because other guys were hitting on me and I was pissed because, well, let's face it alcohol makes me more upset than I should be and then the next thing I know I'm waking up naked next to Matt! Oh my God…" she threw her hands over her mouth, "I had sex with Matt! Oh my gosh how did this happen?"

"It's called a lot of alcohol and sexual tension. I'm shocked. I didn't actually think you guys would do that. I mean, you've never done it. I know he has but I would have thought…"

"Yeah, you think? I can't believe it went that far. I just wanted him to admit that he likes me that's all… Holy crap Mimi what now?"

"Are you two like official or something now? I'd say that was a pretty good way to seal the deal."

"We haven't even talked about getting together. It just kind of happened. How do you handle it with Tai?"

Mimi sighed, "Sadly, I'd give anything in the world to be Tai's girlfriend but he's never asked me. It's hard, Sor. When you like someone and they won't commit it makes things really hard. I want to be with him but he doesn't want anything serious."

"So why do you continue to torture yourself by giving into him?"

"I feel like the more attention I give him the more likely he is to want to be with me. It's not exactly working though…"

"Maybe you should play hard to get. That's what I did with Matt and now look what happened."

Mimi laughed for a minute then stopped, "I guess I could try that. Make him jealous or something. Maybe it will open his eyes to see that we're meant to be together."

"Give it a try. Now, how do I face Matt?"

"You two just need to talk. Figure out where to go from here."

Sora sighed, "Great, more talking. I guess I'll figure it out. Please don't tell anyone."

"I won't say anything. Your secret is safe with me."

Mimi squeezed Sora's hand and turned to walk away. Sora took in a deep breath and walked back into her room. She crawled into the bed enough to make Matt wake up this time.

"Where am I?" He asked quietly once he realized he wasn't in the room Mimi had originally told him to stay in.

"You're in my room," Sora replied.

"Oh… Oh!" Matt said sitting up, "Why am I naked?"

Sora stared at him dumbfounded. Apparently she wasn't the only one who thought last night was a dream.

"Did we have sex?" He whispered.

Sora hesitated but then nodded.

"Oh… cool."

"Cool!."

"I mean… oops?."

Sora sighed.

"Oh my gosh Sora I am so sorry. I took advantage of you. We were drunk I wasn't thinking. I can't believe it happened I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"It was your first time… right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"But nothing. I'm a horrible person! You're forever going to remember your first time as drunken sex with the guy you grew up next door to. Or not remember it because i know I vaguely do. How much did we drink last night? Holy cow, Sora how did this happen?"

"Matt!" Sora finally shouted to shut him up, "I don't regret it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"But it was your first time… and it was with me. I'm sorry."

"I'm not sorry. I wouldn't have had it any other way. You're one of my best friends. If it had to be with anyone I'm glad it was you."

"Well, to be honest I'm glad it was me too."

Sora smiled but then turned her head to look down at the bed. She didn't know what else to say. Everything happened so fast. Losing her virginity to Matt was something she could never get back. On the one hand she was glad it was with him on the other she had mixed feelings about the whole situation. Sex was supposed to be unforgettable. It was supposed to be with someone you were in love with, or at least that's what she'd always convinced herself of. Did Matt even care about her in that way or did he just feel like he took advantage of her? Would this eventually lead to something more or would they just go on like nothing ever happened? Her head was spinning.

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Matt reached out and wiped the tear away and cupped her cheek. She turned to face him and tried to smile. She put her hand on his and laced their fingers together. Slowly, as if the world had stopped, he moved in and placed his lips to hers. It was a gentle, concerned kiss. One that said that he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her. It was short but comforting.

"I like you Sora," he said, "I want us to be together. I want to be with you."

She was on the verge of tears, "You do?"

"Yes. I've been thinking about it for a while and I figure now is as good a time as any. What do you say? Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"Are you sure?" She asked starting him.

"What?"

"I mean, I don't look or act like the girls you usually date. I'm not tall or pretty or blonde. That's usually your type. I'm just your next door neighbor. The girl you come to for advice when your dad's being a dick or when you're upset. I'm the one that you joke around with and tell all your buddies about but you never actually want to pursue anything with. You really want to be with me?"

"Everything you just described is exactly the reason I want to be with you. You're funny and smart and you're beautiful, Sora. You are the one person I go to for advice because I can tell you anything. I have always been able to. You're perfect and I want us to be together. Those other girls meant nothing to me. They were just flings. You're different. I think we'd be good together."

"Well, if you really want to be with me… yes. Yes, I'll be your girlfriend."

"I wouldn't want it any other way…"

He leaned in and kissed her again. This kiss was a bit more passionate than before. She pulled away.

"My mom is going to be so mad," she laughed.

He laughed also, "She'll get over it."

Just as they went in to kiss again cheering came from the other side of the door. Sora jumped up off the bed and opened the door. Everyone in the house was standing there cheering for them. Apparently they'd heard everything and were thrilled the two finally were together.

* * *

**To be Continued...**

**So the tension has been released, they're finally together... yay. Review!**


	8. Sucker Punch

**Disclaimer - I always forget about this thing. I own nothing. Yep.**

So... Its been a while, huh? Yeah... well, here's another fun-filled chapter. Hope everyone (who actually still reads this story) enjoy.s

**Chapter 8 - Sucker Punch**

Spring break week went as quickly as it came. The group left early Sunday morning and arrived back in Odaiba by mid afternoon. Everyone decided to go their separate ways and just see each other at school the next day.

Matt had Sora pushed up against the side of his car in his driveway. He offered to bring Sora to her house to pick up some things from her parents and then take her back to Mimi's after they had dinner together. They'd only been together a week but it was becoming impossible for them to keep their hands off of each other.

"We should probably move this inside," Sora moaned as Matt began kissing her neck, "The neighbors are starting to stare."

"Let them look," Matt replied as he kissed her lips again.

She laughed on pulled away, "Come on, playboy. Let's go get my stuff and then we can continue this later."

Matt sighed, "Fine…"

"You'll survive. Come on."

The two walked across the yard to Sora's parents house and quietly let themselves in. Sora knew her mom was there somewhere but she wasn't about to go out of her way to make her presence known. If anything, she planned to get her things and then leave without saying a word. Unfortunately, things didn't happen that way.

"Sora?" Toshiko said appearing from her bedroom in the dark hallway.

Sora froze on the stairs and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Hello," Sora replied.

"You're back from Okinawa I see. Good to see you, Yamato," Toshiko said.

"Yeah, you too," Matt replied quickly.

"We're just here to pick up some things and then we'll be on our way," Sora interrupted.

Sora laced her fingers through Matt's and tried to pull him up the stairs with her. Toshiko noticed the way Matt's face lit up when her daughter touched him and realized they were finally more than just friends.

"So, I guess it's official then," Toshiko commented, "You two finally realized your feelings for each other."

"Actually, I'm just in it for the sex," Sora replied and dashed up the stairs to her room before her mom could respond. In her attempt to piss her mom off, she ended up leaving Matt alone with her which made him very uncomfortable.

"I'll just be outside… uhm, yeah," Matt said and left quickly.

Toshiko walked up the stairs and followed Sora into her room.

"Am I really such an awful person that you have to treat me like crap?" Toshiko asked.

"I still haven't forgiven you for treating me like dirt my whole life why should it matter if I treat you the same way?" Sora replied.

"I am your mother! Show me a little bit of respect young lady."

"Whatever, mom. I didn't come here to fight with you. Just go away and make this easier for both of us."

"When did you become so spiteful towards me?"

"When you told me I was a slut. That's when I lost all respect towards you. For the record, mother, I don't sleep around like you think I do. I'm not some slut like you were in high school."

"Watch your mouth."

"Why? You know it's true. I had to have a paternity test to prove that my dad is actually my dad. How do you think that makes me feel? Don't you dare sit there and tell me I'm a slut when I've only ever been with one person."

"So you and Yamato are sleeping together then. Well, isn't that great. I hope you're being safe."

"Oh, believe me we are. I don't plan on getting pregnant with a bastard child like you did."

Toshiko's eyes filled with tears and Sora instantly regretted what she said.

"Mom, I'm sorry I didn't mean that," Sora said but Toshiko had already left the room and gone down stairs. She heard her mothers bedroom door slam shut, "Shit…"

Sora sighed and packed up the few remaining things from the bedroom and carried the box downstairs. Her mom may be a bitch sometimes but Sora went a little too far with what she'd said. The whole being a pregnant teen mom was a touchy subject to Toshiko. Sora figured it didn't really matter at that point because her mother refused to speak to her now.

* * *

"You should have seen the look on her face when I said it," Sora explained to Matt later over dinner, "I don't think I've ever hurt her like that before."

"You were just caught up in the heat of the moment. She'll get over it," Matt replied as he flipped through his phone.

"I don't think she will though. My mom had me when she was eighteen years old. She was sleeping with two different guys at the time and didn't know which one was my dad until after I was born and they did a paternity test. How messed up is that?"

"It happens," Matt said simply.

"Ugh. I'm such an awful child."

"Sora, stop stressing yourself out about it. Just give her time to cool down and then talk to her tomorrow or something. You two will get through this."

"I just don't know any more. She treats me like such crap all the time and yet what I say is the most hurtful of all. I hate that I made her feel like crap."

"Can we talk about something else? This is putting you in a bad mood and in all honesty it's kind of depressing."

"Fine. So about us being exclusive…"

"What about it?"

"Can we kind of keep in hush, hush? At school I mean."

"Can I ask why?"

"People have a tendency to say mean things…"

"Sora, you've never cared what anyone thinks. Why does now make a difference?"

"Well, I mean look at you. You're hot. You're like Odaiba High's most sought after guy. Girls throw themselves at you all the time. Where do I fit in? How was I so lucky to catch your attention over all of those other girls who are twice as hot as I'll ever be? Why me? That's what people are going to wonder. We only have a couple months of school left and then we'll never see half of those people ever again."

"I never thought of you as the insecure type."

"I'm not insecure. It just doesn't make sense… you and me."

"Sora…" Matt said and grabbed her hand, "Who cares what people think? We like each other and that's all that should matter. I want to be with you. Not anyone else. Okay?"

Sora smiled, "Okay."

"Now, did you really have to go and tell your mom about us having sex? Talk about putting me in a seriously awkward position."

Sora just laughed.

"If your mom had it out for me before she's definitely going to want me dead now."

"Oh well. Sorry it was kind of a spur of the moment thing to piss her off. I didn't mean to get you involved but you're the one person I know I can always use to piss her off."

"Good to know. Now, enough with the chit chat. Let's continue where we left off in the driveway…"

* * *

Sora awoke the next morning to the sound of her cell phone buzzing out of control. She looked around and couldn't see anything in the dark room. She fumbled for the phone which was the only light source around.

"Where the hell are you?" Mimi shouted into the phone.

"Mimi?" Sora said groggy.

"Sora! It's almost ten! I've been trying to call you all morning! You missed half the school day! Why didn't you come home last night? My parents were freaking out. I had to make up some lame excuse about where you were."

Sora panicked, "We must have fallen asleep during the movie we were watching. I'm so sorry. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Be careful, Sora. Don't let yourself fall for him too fast. Things are moving really quick with him."

"I'll keep that in mind. See you soon."

Sora hung up the phone and rolled out of the bed she slept in. She tried not to trip as she searched for the light switch. As soon as the light filled the room her eyes started screaming at her.

"Turn it off!" She heard Matt yell from underneath a pillow.

"Get up," Sora said pulling the comforter off of him. She blushed when she noticed his completely naked body. She still had to get used to the fact that she was now sleeping with one of her best friends. She herself was naked now that she realized it.

"Five more minutes…" Matt said and rolled over.

"Matt, we have to go to school. We're really late," Sora said putting her clothes on from the night before.

He just continued to lay there unalarmed. Sora rolled her eyes and gathered her things. She was leaving whether he came with her or not.

"You're already late. Rushing isn't going to do anything," Matt commented.

"Just get up," Sora replied as she threw a pair of boxers at him, "Put something on you're distracting me."

Matt smirked, "You like what you see, huh?"

"Get dressed and drive me to Mimi's so I can get my clothes for school, please."

"All right, all right. You sure know how to kill a good moment."

"Move faster!"

Matt yawned and rolled out of bed to get ready. Sora refused to let him shower before they left so he was going to look like a hot mess the rest of the day.

* * *

Sora and Matt got to school just as fourth period was letting out for lunch. They checked in at the front desk and went to the cafeteria, after Sora had made a stop by her locker first. They were greeted quickly by their friends.

"Good to see you finally made it," Mimi said.

"Don't be rude I didn't do it on purpose," Sora replied dropping her bag and taking a seat next to her.

"I'm going to get something to eat. You want anything, babe?" Matt asked and received a few stares from people sitting near by.

"I'm okay. Thanks though," Sora replied and began flipping through her books, "Izzy, what did I miss first and second period?"

"Nothing really," Izzy said as he flipped the page in the book he was reading, "We watched a movie in AP History on World War Two and in AP Calc all we did was talk about the final. I got you the study guide for Calc."

"Okay thanks. So I didn't miss much. I'll have to e-mail the teachers to see if I can make up whatever I missed."

"Damn you smart kids and your AP classes," Mimi grumbled.

"AP isn't hard, Mimi. It's just more work in less time," Sora said.

"Uh huh."

"Just talking about more work makes my head hurt," Tai said taking a bite of his sandwich, "I can't wait to be done with school. Less than two months and we are out of here."

"Not me. I'll be taking classes over the summer to graduate a year early. I already got accepted into MIT so I'll be taking a trip out there toward the end of summer to check it out, along with a few others," Izzy said and received glares from his peers.

"You were accepted into MIT?" Sora said wide-eyed, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It's not really that big of a deal. I got accepted into every school I applied too," Izzy replied like it was nothing.

"Wait, MIT? As in, America? You're moving to America?" Tai said.

"More than likely. Some of the best schools for technology are out there. It just makes sense that I go there. Plus, I got offered a full-ride scholarship where ever I go. They will pay for tuition, room and board; pretty much everything."

"What other schools did you apply to out there?"

"Cal Tech, Harvard, and Yale. I was accepted into all of them. I also applied to Oxford and Cambridge in Europe but I don't think I want to study in Europe."

Everyone at the table about hit the floor. They knew Izzy was smart but to be accepted into that many top scale schools was a huge honor.

"When you design a website like Facebook and become the youngest billionaire in the world, just remember us little people," Mimi said.

"Geeze, I'll be lucky to make it into a community college," Tai said.

"Tai, with your athletic abilities, any big college would take you," Sora said.

"I guess. I have a couple of scouts coming to the game next week so we'll see."

"Where did you apply to school, Sora?" Mimi wondered.

"I didn't," she replied.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know if I want to go to school right away. I got accepted into this tennis program thing for the summer and they're talking pro and what not. I'm considering that right now."

"A little birdie told me you were offered a full-ride to Tokyo U..." Tai said out of no where.

Sora's eyes got dark, "Who told you that?"

"Our parents are friends. They talk. I hear everything."

"Great."

"Tokyo U is a good school. They have an amazing science program. You should go into the medical field like your father. It pays ridiculously well," Izzy suggested.

"My father does medical research for a living. Boring," Sora said.

"Medical research is fascinating," Joe said appearing out of no where.

"Coming from the future doctor," Mimi laughed, "Wait, why are you here? You already graduated."

"I'm helping an old teacher on a thesis. I come by twice a week during his free period to help out. It looks good on my college extra curriculars."

Mimi just rolled her eyes. She hated that she was surrounded by so many overly intelligent people all the time. She then saw Tai drop his sandwich in his lap and all was right with the world again.

"Remind me to talk to your father about job shadowing, Sora," Joe said, "I would love to see his research. My brother says its fascinating."

"I'll make a note of it," she said.

"Where's everyone else?" Joe wondered. All he saw at the table was Izzy, Mimi, Sora, and Tai.

"Matt's getting food," Sora said.

"Tk, Kari, Yolie, and Davis don't get lunch break until after grades eleven and twelve go back to class," Tai said.

"Ah, that's right. Separate lunch schedules. I forgot. Anyways, I'd better get going," Joe waved and turned but then stopped and turned back, "Oh, and Sora, congratulations on you and Matt finally being official. You two really make a great couple."

Sora's eyes widened and she hoped no one heard his comment. She saw a few people sitting near by begin to whisper and wondered how long it would take before the whole school found out. So much for keeping it a secret.

"I have to go," Sora said grabbing her things and trying to make a quick exit, "I'll see you guys later."

"But Sora, you didn't even eat anything," Tai noticed.

"I'll be fine. Bye!" She said and was gone.

"She's acting so weird," Mimi commented.

"Yeah," Tai replied.

"Where did Sora go?" Matt wondered as he sat down and noticed she was gone.

"No clue. She dipped out really fast after Joe made a comment about you two finally being together," Tai said.

"Oh. Well, she kind of didn't want anyone to know," Matt replied.

"Why? Who cares?"

"That's what I said."

"Girls are weird."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

Sora could not wait for the day to end. Word had definitely gotten out about her and Matt and people weren't being subtle about it at all. It seemed like everyone was staring and whispering every time she walked by, or maybe she was just overly paranoid. Most people were quiet about it. Others spoke openly and were mean about it. She never thought she'd be the victim of mean girls words. The day had officially become a nightmare when she ran into Avery, the girl who'd had a thing for Matt since the ninth grade.

"Well, well, well if it isn't little miss lucky bitch herself," Avery said as she flipped her pin-straight black hair of her shoulder.

Sora just rolled her eyes as she cleaned out her locker in the gym.

"Must be nice to be dating the hottest guy in school. How did you manage that?"

"Don't you have someone else to bother? Go away," Sora replied.

"Nope. You've got my full attention for the moment. Tell me how you did it. Before you two left for spring break you were just friends and now he can't keep his hands off you, or so I've heard. How did you make that happen?"

"It's none of your damn business, Avery. Why do you even care?"

"Because Matt's super hot. And you're... well, you're just kind of average. He should technically be with someone who looks more like... well, me."

Sora was getting extremely irritated by Avery's snide comments. She always knew the girl was a bitch but most of the time she just said things behind your back, not directly to your face. She had a lot of balls saying the things she was to Sora's face.

"Come on, Sora. What's your secret? Are you that amazing in bed or something? Not that anyone would know except for Matt considering you've never slept with anyone else. Or wait... you're paying him aren't you? You're paying him to pretend to be your boyfriend so you don't look like such a lonely loser. That's got to be it."

Sora tried as keep her mouth shut but Avery was making it really hard not to want to rip her pretty face off. Avery just continued to make assumptions and things boiled over.

"Slut," Avery muttered.

That did it. All of Sora's patience came to a boiling point. Avery may have been taller than her but Sora had more muscle. She took everything she had and threw it into a punch: right on Avery's nose. Avery screamed and stumbled backwards as blood spilled everywhere. Girls came rushing to her side at the sound of her screams and so did one of their tennis coaches. She yelled for someone to get the nurse and ordered Sora off to the principals office immediately.

"I will kill you, you bitch!" Avery shouted at her.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Sora replied jumping at her and causing her to flinch and scream again. Sora smirked.

"Avery, keep your mouth shut! Sora, principal's office, now!" The coach yelled.

Sora left the locker room and the reality of punching Avery in the face hit. She was going to get suspended. Not just suspended; possibly expelled. Her heart raced as she realized the consequences of her actions. However, the thought of Avery with a swollen face and broken nose did give her a sick sense of satisfaction.

* * *

Sora was being held in the principal's office until they could get a hold of one of her parents to come and straighten the situation out. After many failed attempts, the principal just decided to deal with this without them.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Sora. This isn't like you," he said over and over again, "What in the world possessed you to punch Avery Miller in the face?"

Sora sighed because she was also disappointed in herself, "I don't know. She wouldn't stop bothering me about my boyfriend and-"

"Boyfriend? This fight was about a boy?"

"No. Not really. Well, it kind of started that way. But then she called me a slut and I kind of snapped. I'm sorry."

He just shook his head, "I don't want to expel you. But I can't let you get off with only a warning. This school has a zero tolerance policy against violence and if I don't take any action Avery's parents could come back and file a suit against the school. I couldn't get a hold of your mother and your father is out of town so I guess it's up to us to decide what happens from here."

"I don't really live at home any more so my parents don't really need to be involved."

"Oh. I didn't know that. Who is your guardian then?"

"I don't need a guardian. I'm eighteen. I temporarily live with my friend Mimi and her parents. My mother and I needed some distance. She's... stubborn. We disagree a lot. It's complicated."

"I wasn't aware that there were problems at home. That would explain the aggression."

"There's no aggression. Avery called me a slut just like my mom did recently and it kind of hit a nerve. Look, I didn't mean to punch her. I've never punched anyone before in my life. I'll apologize to her if I have too. I'll do community service, whatever. I'm not a bad person. Check my file. You won't find anything."

"I know you're not a bad person. Look, I'm letting you off easy on this one, okay? Four days of suspension. You can resume your classes next Monday. I will inform your teachers and have them prepare the work you're going to miss. Oh, and you'll be participating in the spring fashion show. Your friend Mimi is in charge of it so it shouldn't be too awful. Fair enough?"

"Four days? Sir, finals are coming up! I can't miss a whole week of class I'll fall so far behind I won't be able to catch up! And wait a minute, you want _me_ to participate in a fashion show? Do you know me at all? Fashion isn't exactly my thing. I could really care less about it to be honest."

"Sora, you leave me no choice. It's either that or I expel you and you forfeit your entire senior year. Take your choice."

Sora sighed, "Fine. Suspension and fashion show it is."

"All right. You can get your things. You're not allowed back on the premises until next Monday."

* * *

Sora planned to walk to Mimi's house, considering now that everyone was gone for the day, but when she walked by student parking she saw Matt leaned up against his car waiting for her. She couldn't help but smile.

"So you punched Avery Miller in the face," Matt stated with a smirk when she approached him.

"How do you already know about that?" Sora said.

"Gossip spreads like fire in this school. You're not denying it though. I honestly thought it was a joke."

"Well, great. I was hoping to keep that little disagreement between her and I quiet."

"She looks like shit. You broke her nose."

"Why did you go see her?"

"I didn't. I passed her on my way to find you. Her face is all bruised up. You really only hit her once?"

"Yeah. It was a clean shot."

"It looks like she got her ass handed to her. Good for you. Now no one will mess with you."

"I didn't do it to prove a point."

"Well, why did you do it?"

"She called me a slut."

"So you punched her in the face?"

"She wouldn't leave me alone."

"Why was she bothering you?"

"What does it matter?"

"Do you always ask this many questions?"

"Do you always avoid this many questions?

Matt sighed, "This is getting us no where. Just tell me what happened."

"She was saying really hurtful things to me. About us. People like her are the reason I didn't want anyone finding out we're together. Everyone says I'm not good enough for you. You were right when you said you were out of my league. Maybe we're just better off being friends. At least people left me alone when we were."

"Sora, I don't want to be just your friend. What part of that aren't you understanding? I've had feelings for you for a long time. I was just waiting for you to finally realize you felt the same. Who gives a shit what anyone else says or thinks? It's high school. People say shit to make themselves feel better and make the day move along faster. Girls like Avery pry on people like you because it gives them a sense of power. You're ten times cooler and prettier than she'll ever be and she knows that. It's the reason she talks so much shit. You might not understand why but people like you, Sora. A lot. Half the guys in this school would kill to be with someone like you. If anything, I'm the one that's lucky to have caught your attention, not the other way around."

"I wish I could believe you I just have a hard time with it."

"You'll understand how amazing you are eventually. Just ignore these people. We're out of this hell hole in less than two months and then we can be together and not give a shit who thinks it's right or wrong. So, what is your punishment for kicking her ass?"

Sora sighed, "I'm suspended until Monday."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean 'That's it?' I'm suspended for four days! _Four _days!"

"Uh, most people would get kicked out and be told never to come back. You got lucky. I wouldn't complain."

"I'm not. It just sucks. What the hell am I supposed to do for four days?"

"Well, I could always play hooky and we could spend the rest of the week in my basement..."

Sora laughed, "Okay, play boy. I'm already in enough trouble as it is I don't want to drag you down with me."

"Ah, but I love living on the edge. It makes things more interesting."

"I'm not going to let you skip school. You need to go to your classes. You're the only reason Tai is passing Physics. Without you he'd be a lost cause. I'll just hang out with Mimi's parents or something."

"Mimi's parents are gone during the day. You'll probably end up sitting on your ass watching TV for a week."

"Doubtful. TV is boring during the day. I'll have to figure something out something so I don't drive myself crazy."

"You'll be fine. Mimi gets home around two thirty so it's not like you'll be alone all day. Just sleep until noon. That's what I'd do."

"Easier said than done."

"Anyways, enough talking. Let's get out of here. Dinner at my place again? My dad was asking about you."

"Sure. Sounds great. Oh, and there's another part to my punishment I forgot to mention."

"What? Don't tell me he's making you help the janitor for a week or something?"

"I have to help with the spring fashion show."

Matt laughed. No, not just laughed, about fell to the ground in pain from laughing.

"It's not funny!" Sora shouted.

"Oh, it's funny. Of all the things he could have done to make your life miserable he chooses that. Epic."

"I don't know the first thing about fashion. I'm going to destroy the show if they actually make me do something to help."

"It's just clothes, Sora. Who knows? Maybe it will be your calling."

"Psh, yeah right. Like that would ever happen."

"It could happen. Sora Takenouchi: world famous fashion designer. I can see it now I really can."

"Can we just drop it? I'm hungry and tired and I have probably over stayed my welcome now that I'm suspended."

"Well, let's get going then."

* * *

After dinner, Matt actually kept his word and brought Sora back to Mimi's so her parents didn't freak out. Sora sat in her room playing on her laptop trying to ignore all of her friends comments about the events earlier in the day. Word had gotten out and everyone knew about the "fight" in the locker room. It was posted all over Facebook which drove her even more crazy.

"I'm glad you punched that bitch in the face," Mimi said from the desk top computer on the other side of the room, "She deserved it. Have you seen the pictures her friends posted? She looks like shit."

"I didn't mean to punch her it just kind of happened," Sora replied and then looked for the pictures Mimi was referring too.

"Either way, I'm glad someone finally damaged her fake face. Maybe it will make her think twice about talking shit again."

"You're getting way too much enjoyment out of this."

"I hate that bitch. She does nothing but talk crap about everyone and everything. She thinks everyone likes her but people just hang out with her to make themselves look better. She's a skank."

"Wow, Meems, tell us how you really feel."

"You hate her too don't lie."

"I don't hate anyone. She just annoys me."

"She's obsessed with Matt. She's never going to leave you alone about him. She's jealous."

"Obviously. Why do you have so much hatred towards her?"

"I already told you: she's a skank."

"Yeah, I got that. Did she sleep with one of your ex's or something?"

"She sleeps with everyone."

"Perfect. I'm sure she been with Matt then. Most everyone has."

"Matt hasn't slept with as many people as you think. Maybe like one or two others before you. People just have a tendency to make him look more like a player than he really is."

"Well, that's reassuring to know my boyfriend isn't as big of a man whore as I thought."

"He hasn't slept with Avery, just so you know."

"Good."

"She has, however, slept with Tai. More than once."

"Ah, so that's why you hate her so much."

"She's a slut. She needs to keep her legs closed and stay away from other people's boyfriends."

"Mimi, Tai's not your boyfriend."

"It doesn't matter. She knows I like him and that we've fooled around and she slept with him anyways."

"Uh, hello? Tai slept with her too. It's not just her fault."

"I don't blame him."

"You're delusional."

"Why are you defending her?"

"I'm not. I'm just saying that it's not just her fault. Tai was there too. It's not like she forced him into it or anything. Tai's not perfect like you think he is. It's probably for the best that you don't know half of his secrets."

Mimi groaned and rolled her eyes. She didn't want to talk about this any more it was making her upset.

"So explain this fashion show thing to me," Sora said changing the subject quickly.

"The school fashion show?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah."

"Since when do you have an interest in our school's fashion? Or lack there of with these nasty uniforms WHICH, by the way, I'm planning to have vetoed for the last week of school."

"I don't have an interest. It's more of a punishment really. I have to help with the fashion show because of the Avery situation."

Mimi started laughing just like Matt did earlier. Sora was annoyed that everyone found it so amusing.

"Wow," Mimi said calming down, "They really are torturing you aren't they?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Well, if you really want to know, it's a fashion show that the marketing club puts on every year around this time. Everyone submits their ideas and then the people involved make the outfits. We do modeling auditions and everything. It raises a lot of money for fine arts department. I'll be running it this year and modeling a few outfits as well."

"Sounds... fun. Not. Ugh, this will suck."

"It's not that bad. We all have a lot of fun. Half the people from school come every year so it's kind of a big deal. We even do a swim suit competition. You should model one for everyone."

Sora turned red at the thought, "There is no way in hell that is going to happen."

"Why not? You've got an amazing body. You put half the girls in this school to shame. People would be running over each other to get in the doors to see you."

"Yeah right. Keep dreaming. I will not be modeling a bathing suit for anyone."

"You totally should. You need to pull yourself out of your comfort zone for once."

"Being involved in this fashion show period is pulling me out of my comfort zone. I don't want to do it. Period."

"You had no problem being in a bikini at the beach this past week."

"That's different. We were laying out and there was an ocean involved. It's completely different to wear one and strut down a run way."

"I think you should do it."

"I pass. Thanks."

"We'll see. Remember the part where I'm running the fashion show this year? I can tell the principal you're not cooperating and see where it goes from there..."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would."

"You're evil."

"Just do it. It won't kill you."

"It might, actually."

"Okay, drama fest."

"Please don't make me do that."

"Either model the bikini or design clothes. Your choice."

"How is that a fair choice? I can't do either of those things!"

"Modeling it is. Sora in a bikini in front of a ton of people... I cannot wait for that."

* * *

**To be continued...**

Wow, that chapter came out a lot longer than I originally thought. Oh well I guess that's what happens when you don't update for a while. Review if you'd like. Thanks!


	9. Hidden Talent

**Disclaimer - I don't own it.**

Wow. The fandom on this site has really died out. Based on the lack of reviews from my last chapter I almost said screw it to this story. But... I am determined to finish what I started. That, and I really want to start posting the sequel, even though I won't get reviews for it. Oh well. Thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter. I appreciate it!

**Chapter 9 – Hidden Talent**

By day three of Sora's suspension, the silence was all but driving her mad. It was Thursday afternoon and she was bored. Tai had soccer practice, Mimi and Kari had cheerleading, Matt promised to stop by later, but at the moment he had band practice, Tk was grocery shopping with his mom, and everyone else she didn't really care to see. They were all busy anyways, she figured.

It had taken a lot of begging and being on the verge of tears for Sora to finally convince Mimi to not make her model a bikini in the fashion show. Mimi gave in and told her to do some research on fashion because she would be helping with designs instead. Sora attempted doing research but didn't get very far with it. Matt had texted her, she remembered, and that put the fashion on hold. It seemed to happen like that every time. She would try to look at fashion stuff but something would distract her. She really wasn't cut out for that line of work. Getting motivated was the first step and she couldn't even do that.

She glanced at the clock and sighed when she realized it was only two thirty. Mimi wouldn't be home until after six so that left a little over three hours to either continue staring at the ceiling or find something to keep herself occupied. A brilliant idea finally shot across her mind: shopping. She remembered that she needed some new jeans... and a couple of new tops wouldn't hurt either.

She jumped up off the bed and changed from her sweat pants and tank top into a pair of skinny jeans, some rhinestone encrusted flip flops, and a baby blue tube top she'd borrowed from Mimi recently but had forgotten to give back. She threw her hair up into a messy pony tail, grabbed daddy's credit card, and headed out.

Fortunately for Sora, Mimi's apartment sat right in the outside the city of Tokyo so everything was within walking distance. She hummed happily while sipping the smoothie she'd purchased and scoped out the next store she could spend more of her daddy's money in. She walked by a high-end clothing store and a sign on the window caught her eye. It read: "Fashion Seminar: Today only! 4pm-6pm. All walk-ins welcome!" She almost blew it off but Mimi's nagging voice rang through her head.

"Eh, why not?" She said to herself and glanced at the time on her phone. It was pushing four so she decided to see what this seminar thing was all about. If anything, she could always laugh about it later.

"Can I help you with anything?" A man standing by the door asked as soon as she entered.

"Yeah... I'm here for the seminar thing," Sora replied pointing to the sign in the window.

The guy looked Sora over from head-to-toe and smirked while holding back a scoff. Sora glared at him because of his rudeness and turned to leave. The man quickly stopped her.

"No, don't go! I'm sorry. My name is Watanabe Junya. I'm the owner of this store. I wasn't trying to be rude you just don't look like our typical walk-ins," he said.

"I'm not really here by choice. I kind of got suckered into helping with my schools fashion show and, to be honest, I don't have the first clue about fashion," Sora replied.

"Well, that's what our seminars are for. We go over the basics: the history of fashion, color matches, what looks good and what doesn't, turning any wardrobe into a dream, etc. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in for the next couple of hours?"

"Not really. But like I said, I'm not really here by choice."

Junya sighed, "Very well. If nothing else, at lease you get to experience something new. The seminar is being held at four. We are closing the store early for it so if you'd like to take a seat we'll start shortly."

"Sounds good."

Sora walked over to a small sitting area where she saw other people waiting. It didn't look like they were going to have a very big turn out considering, including herself, there were only seven people waiting. She took a seat next to a boy with messy black hair and crystal blue eyes. He was hot, she thought, but she knew from first glance that he was gay. If he said any different it would be a lie before God. The purple scarf kind of gave it away. _Who wears a scarf in the middle of summer?_ She wondered.

"I'm Christian," the boy said holding out his hand as soon as she sat down.

Sora smiled and returned the hand shake, "Sora."

"What a gorgeous name!"

Yep. Definitely gay.

Sora laughed, "Thanks."

"You look out of place being here," he commented.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Honey, you wear dazed and confused like a shirt. What's your reason for coming to a fashion seminar?"

"Uhm... I got in trouble at school?"

He laughed, as did one of the girls listening nearby, "Why would your school force you to go to a fashion seminar as punishment? Did you commit a fashion crime or something?"

"I kind of more or less punched someone and got four days suspension and I was recruited to help with our spring fashion show. I'm not here by choice."

Christian laughed again. Apparently she amused him, "Goodness. What school do you go to? They let you off easy for punching someone."

"Odaiba High. Yeah, the principal kind of has a soft spot for me I guess."

"Odaiba? I graduated there last year! Are you a senior?"

"Yeah."

"I bet you're ready to be out of that place."

"You could say that."

"You look like such a calm person. What possessed you to punch someone else?"

This guy was asking a lot of questions which made Sora uncomfortable. She also had the attention of everyone else sitting there. She was annoyed.

"Well... let's just say she has a big mouth," Sora replied bluntly.

"Nice. Sorry for prying you probably think I'm some crazy person asking all these questions. I just have a tendency to talk too much. If I'm getting too personal please tell me to shut up. Just don't punch me," he said causing the other girls to laugh.

Sora smirked, "No worries."

She pulled her phone out of her bag and turned it on. Christian leaned over and instantly started cooing at the picture on the screen.

"Is that your man friend?" Christian wondered.

"Yes, he's my boyfriend," Sora replied. Sora was amused by his term 'man friend'.

"He is so yummy! Wait a minute... is he... Ishida Yamato?"

The girls sitting there all gasped like someone famous had just graced their presence.

"Yes... how did you know that?" Sora wondered.

"You're dating _the _Matt Ishida?"

"Yeah. How do you know him?"

"I've only been to like every single one of his concerts! Has he been signed yet? I assumed someone would pick up that band pretty darn quick considering how good they are."

Sora rolled her eyes. Of course these people knew who Matt was. His band was pretty popular in the greater Tokyo area so it didn't really surprise her that they knew him.

"I remember seeing him in the halls at school and always thinking about how hot he is. Now that I think about it I'm pretty sure I remember you now. You play tennis, correct?" Christian asked.

"Wow, you're good," Sora replied stunned.

"I knew you looked familiar! What a small world, huh?"

"You could say that."

Sora didn't know this guy at all. He recognized her from school but she couldn't remember ever passing him in the hallway or anything. Then again, she didn't really hang out with anyone that wasn't in her close group of friends or that wasn't on the tennis team so she probably just didn't even notice. If she'd met him or seen him in passing she definitely would have remembered those eyes. Besides Tk and Matt she didn't know anyone else with blue eyes. It was a rare thing in Japan. Christian only looked half, maybe a quarter, Japanese though so that would explain the icy blue eye color and pale skin. One of his parents must be American, she assumed.

Christian started to say something else but Junya approached them and everyone instantly shut up. The employees locked the front door and they were all led to a large room in the back. It was going to be an interesting two hours to say the least.

* * *

Sora left the seminar and her head was spinning. Apparently, according to Junya and the others, fashion was her calling. It made her laugh when she thought about it because Matt had joked about it with her a couple of days ago. She just thought the whole thing was funny. Fashion wasn't rocket science, not from her perspective at least. Junya kept asking her questions and apparently she was saying all the right things because he offered for her to come intern with him once she graduated high school. He said with the right training, she could be the "next big thing." According to Christian, it was a huge deal.

When she pulled her phone out of her pocket it instantly began blowing up with missed calls and text messages. Most of them were from Mimi asking where the hell she was. The seminar lasted longer than two hours and it was already after seven.

"Your boyfriend must be worried," Christian said noticing her frazzled expression.

"Actually, it's my best friend, Mimi. I kind of live with her so she's freaking out because I haven't responded to where I've been all day," Sora replied.

"You're an adult. She doesn't have to know where you are all hours of the day."

"True. I need to call her though before she sends out a search party."

"Let me get your number before you go. You may not see it now, but I think you're going to realize that fashion is your true calling and I want to be the first person you call when you realize it."

Sora laughed, "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I've been working with Junya since I graduated high school and when he sees true talent he doesn't let it go to waste."

"All right... If you say so. My number is 555-1234."

"All right, got it," Christian said programing her number in his phone, "See you around!"

"Bye."

Sora waved as he walked away and then sighed as she dialed Mimi's number. No way in hell was she going to tell Mimi she was at a fashion seminar for three hours. She had to think of something quick before Mimi answered.

"Thank God you're alive!" Mimi shouted into the phone.

"Of course I'm alive," Sora replied.

"Where the hell are you? I've been worried sick! And so has Matt. He's at the house right now, by the way."

"Crap! I forgot he was coming over! I'm downtown I'll be there in ten."

"Hurry, please."

Sora hung up the phone and began her walk home. She stopped short when her mothers flower shop came in view. She slowly approached the shop and glanced through the window. Her mother was there.

Sora couldn't help but notice the sad expression on her face. It looked as though she hadn't slept in days and her cheeks were noticeably tear-stained. As much hatred and anger as she'd had toward her mother lately it still saddened her to see her mom so upset. She sighed and decided against going inside. Her walk home gave way to a depressing mood.

* * *

Sora walked in the door to Mimi's apartment and was instantly greeted by Mimi and Matt. Mimi bombarded her with twenty questions, which did nothing but add to her foul mood.

"Where the hell have you been?" She wondered.

"I went shopping. What does it matter?"

"_You_ went shopping? Right. Why haven't you been answering your phone all day then?"

"Why does it matter? You're not my mother don't question where I was."

"I was worried about you. Not to mention you kind of live here so yeah, I do have a right to know where you are."

"Look, I'm not a child. I don't need you keeping tabs on me. I can come and go as I please. I don't need you telling me what to do, okay?"

Mimi took a step back as Sora snapped at her. She grew more concerned. Something had happened between their phone conversation and her walk home. Mimi decided not to press the issue further until the two were alone and Matt wasn't standing there.

"Okay. I'm sorry," Mimi said.

"Come on, Matt," Sora said grabbing her boyfriend by the hand and basically dragging him to her bedroom. Mimi flinched when she slammed the door.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked as soon as the two were alone.

"Just don't talk, okay?" Sora said and pushed him backwards onto her bed. She crawled on top of him and pressed her lips against his. As much as he enjoyed her sudden angry passion, he couldn't stop wondering what was wrong.

"Stop, stop," Matt said pushing her off and sitting up.

"What?" Sora asked.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Bullshit. Something is wrong. You just attacked Mimi for no reason."

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Sora, talk to me."

"I don't want to talk about it. I saw my mom and she looked like shit, okay? Can we just drop the subject?"

Sora pushed him down again and started kissing him. This time he didn't fight her.

* * *

It was late. Sora drifted between sleep and consciousness as she listened to Matt lightly strum the chords on his guitar. He hummed a tune to one of her favorite songs, Your Guardian Angel, and it made her smile.

"_I will never let you fall... I'll stand up with you forever... I'll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to Heaven 'cause you're my, you're my," _he looked up at Sora and smiled at her while he sang as if the lyrics were written specifically for her, "_Myeyeyee, my true love, my whole heart... Please don't throw that away and please tell me you'll stay..."_

Matt's voice drifted into a hum as the music slowed and he got quieter. Sora breathed in heavy and rolled over on her side. She could listen to his voice all day long and never get sick of it. Hell, he could scream at her in song lyrics and it would still make her melt.

Matt put down the guitar and walked over to the bed.

"Don't stop..." Sora mumbled behind closed eyes.

He smiled, "I have to get going. It's late."

"No, don't leave..."

She reached out and grabbed his hand. He could tell she was on the verge of passing out so decided to make his exit a quick one.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, my love," he said kissing her lightly on the forehead and walking to the door. He turned and stared at her one last time before closing the door behind him.

When he reached the end of the hallway he came face-to-face with Mimi. She had an accusing smile plastered on her face.

"What?" He wondered.

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" She said.

"What! No. You're crazy."

"Uh huh. You just serenaded her to sleep, which, by the way, was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Not to mention you have this look on your face right now that is screaming that you love her."

"Look, I like Sora. A lot. More than anyone I've ever been with but these feelings are so new to me I don't know whether or not it's love yet. Just leave it alone, okay?"

"Fine. Whatever you say. If you love her though you should tell her."

"It's kind of soon for that. We _just _started dating."

"Yes, but, you've known her since you were eleven AND you've had feelings for her for a long time. It doesn't matter how long you've been together. You two have had feelings for each other for so long that falling in love isn't really that crazy if you think about it."

Matt just rolled his eyes and headed for the door, "Goodnight, Mimi."

"You'll realize soon that I'm right and when you do I want to be the first one to hear it!"

* * *

It was finally Friday. However, once again all of Sora's friends had school activities to attend to before they could enjoy the weekend. Sora battled with herself for a while but finally decided to stop by her mom's flower shop and say hello.

She walked in the door and the bell above it rang, alerting whomever was working that someone was present. A woman she didn't recognize emerged from the back room holding a bouquet that needed some serious work.

"Hello, welcome to Takenouchi Floral. How can I help you?" She asked.

"Is Toshiko here?" Sora asked.

"No, sorry. She called out today."

"Do you know where she is by chance?"

"I'm not really sure. She sounded sick though so maybe she's just home with a cold."

"Well, if she comes by tell her that her daughter was here."

"Oh, you're Sora? It's nice to meet you! Toshiko talks about you all the time. She's always gushing about how incredible you are."

That made Sora feel like crap. She had been everything but incredible recently.

"If I see her I'll tell her you stopped by," the woman continued.

"Thanks."

Sora left the shop quickly with a heavy heart. If her parents' house wasn't so far she'd go there but without transportation she couldn't really get there.

"Sora!" A voice sang from across the street.

Sora looked up and saw the boy from the fashion seminar, Christian, waving at her. She remembered that he said he worked for Junya and since his store was right down the street, it didn't surprise her that he was there. She put on a fake smile and carefully crossed the street to meet him.

"Even dressed down you're still gorgeous," Christian said.

Sora looked down at her attire of jean shorts and a black tank top, "Um, thank you?"

"What brings you into the city?"

"Well, I was planning to meet up with my mom but she's not working. She owns the flower shop across the street."

"Toshiko? She always has the best flower arrangements. Junya is very fond of her. She delivers arrangements to his store weekly. He calls her a floral goddess."

Sora laughed to herself like it was some sort of joke. Goddess? Far from.

"Well hey, since you're here, how about joining me for lunch?" Christian asked.

"Sure," she decided, "Why not?"

"Any place in particular you like?"

"Anything is fine."

"All right. Sushi sound good?"

"Sushi sounds great, actually."

"Good. Let's get some. I need to talk to you about some stuff."

* * *

"Why does Sora never answer her phone? It's not like she has any other friends!" Mimi complained as she dialed Sora's number again for the fourth time but it just kept going straight to voicemail.

"She's probably out doing something what does it matter?" Tai asked as he tied his shoes in preparation for his second to last game of his high school career.

"What's the point of having a cell phone if you're never going to answer it?"

Tai just rolled his eyes. Mimi's complaining annoyed him sometimes. She was too whiny.

"I have to get going or my coach will kill me," Tai said standing up from the bleachers.

"Are we all still going out tonight?" Mimi wondered.

"Yeah. Matt said he'll be done with practice around six so we can all meet up around seven or eight. I heard Higorashi Souta is having a party at his place later. We'll probably end up going by there for a couple hours."

"Okay. Well, I'll see you tonight then. Are you still picking me up?"

"Yeah. All right, well, see ya."

Tai pulled her in for a quick hug and her heart pounded as she hoped for a goodbye kiss. It didn't happen though. He pulled away just as quickly and jogged off onto the field. She wished he would just grow some balls and ask her to be his girlfriend already. He liked her and she liked him. Why not make it official?

She sighed and quickly sucked it up as she grabbed her pom poms.

"All right, ladies! Let's get this practice going!" She shouted to the other cheerleaders.

* * *

"You're kidding. Right?" Sora said with a laugh.

"Why would I joke about that? I'm dead serious," Christian responded and ate another sushi roll, "These are delicious by the way."

"Do you see what I'm wearing right now? Almost ninety percent of my wardrobe consists of clothing like this: Shorts, tank tops, and sweat pants. _That _is my style. I don't know anything about fashion nor do I really give a crap to be honest."

"That's what I'm here for. Junya wants me to train you in the ways of high-end fashion. Like I said before, with the right training, you could be really good at this."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then that would be like slapping God in the face for blessing you with a beautiful gift."

Sora just rolled her eyes. Christian had told her that Junya wanted her to come and work with him. He wanted her everyday after school and occasionally on the weekends. She went to the fashion seminar out of curiosity and was completely dumbfounded that a famous fashion designer was offering her a job. She had no experience in the matter and honestly didn't even know whether or not this was something she would be interested. She had always pictured herself going to college on a full-ride sports scholarship and just majoring in business or something.

"Just give it a chance. I'm asking two weeks, tops. If you don't like it then I can at least say I tried. If I come back to work tomorrow empty handed Junya will have my ass on a platter. Got it?" Christian proposed.

Sora thought about it for a minute. Two weeks wasn't that bad. Not to mention it would give her something to do considering tennis was over as of that next week. She sighed and nodded.

"All right. I'll do it."

Christian cheered, "Thank you! Junya will be so happy. You have no idea how happy you've made me!"

"If I hate it after two weeks I'm done, got it?"

"I completely understand. But I guarantee you'll love it."

"Love is a strong word. We'll see."

* * *

Sora kept the whole conversation with Christian earlier hush, hush as she and Mimi got ready to go out later that night. The boys were supposed to be taking them to dinner and then they would spend the rest of the night at Souta's house. It was supposedly going to be the blowout of the year and missing it would just be an insult to their reputations.

"What time are the boys supposed to be here?" Mimi wondered as she fixed her make up in massive hall bathroom mirror.

"They're not picking us up. Matt said his practice is running late so we're going to have to meet up with them," Sora replied as she flipped through a magazine.

"That's romantic. I thought this was supposed to be a double date? So much for chivalry."

Sora rolled her eyes. Tai was right: Mimi was whiny, "It's not a double date. You and Tai aren't dating, remember? There's a difference between hooking up and dating. You two: hooking up."

"Thanks for reminding me."

"Truth hurts, sweetness."

"You're getting as bad as me on this whole being honesty thing."

"Would you prefer I lie to you?"

"No. But being a little less harsh would be nice."

"I tell it how it is."

"I hate you so much sometimes."

"You need a friend like me. I'm the only one who will put up with you."

Mimi scoffed, "Gee, thanks."

"Joking. In all seriousness though you need to hurry. We are meeting them in like thirty minutes."

"Ever heard of being fashionably late?"

Sora's phone started ringing. It was Tai.

"Hey," Sora answered.

There was a lot of noise in the background. It made what Tai was saying hard to hear.

"Change of plans!" Tai shouted over the noise.

Sora put the phone on speaker, "Where are you?"

"Big... party."

"What the hell?" Mimi said out loud.

"Can you bring me something to go? I didn't get a chance to grab anything after the game. The guys kind of dragged me here even though I told them I had plans for dinner. I'm not driving so I didn't really get a choice."

"Screw. That!" Mimi shouted, "How dare he bail on us for dinner then have the audacity to ask us to bring him something to go!"

"Sora, take me off speaker," Tai said.

Sora did as she was told, "What do you want?"

Mimi was pissed that Sora gave into his request.

"All right. We'll see you soon. Yeah, just tell Matt to meet us there. Okay. Bye."

"Great, Sora. Just great," Mimi said.

"What?"

"He's flaking on dinner and you're just going to blow it off and get him something to go? What the hell is that?"

"Mimi, it's not that big of a deal."

"You just don't get it. He's such an ass."

"We're not even going to dinner any more anyways. Matt won't be able to make it on time and obviously Tai's already where we were going to end up. Just let it go."

"You're supposed to be on my side."

"When did we start choosing sides?"

"I'm your best friend! You should defend my honor and tell that bird nest, stupid head to get his own damn food!"

Sora couldn't help but laugh. Mimi was funny when she was mad.

"Quit laughing this is serious! You're really pissing me off today you know that?" Mimi grumbled.

"Go take some happy pills and grab your bag. We're leaving."

* * *

**To be continued...**

I was going to continue this chapter longer but I decided against it. Oh well. This chapter sucks anyways. Thanks for reading!


	10. A Night to Remember

**Disclaimer - **I don't own Digimon. I don't own xbox 360. I don't own cheerios. I don't own converses. I don't own anything else brand label mentioned in this chapter or chapters to come. Yup. **  
**

**Are you ready for the longest chapter in fanfiction history? Probably not but it's pretty close. Over 10,000+ words on this one. (I'm really determined to get this stupid thing finished). All right! Chapter ten is here! I will have four more chapters following this one and the story will finally be over. It's been years in the making but it will finally come to an end. Lots going on in this one... just bear with me. Also, there may be some typing mistakes I'm not sure I hate re-reading these things so I apologize. Thanks!  
**

**Chapter Ten - A Night to Remember  
**

Sora and Mimi finally arrived at Souta's house for the party. Sora was relieved to finally get out of the car because all Mimi did the entire time was complain. She needed something in the form of hard liquor if she was going to make it through this night with all of Mimi's whining.

"And another thing...!" Mimi continued to babble.

Sora eventually learned to tune her out and glanced at all the cars parked along the street. Souta wasn't kidding, this party was going to be big. The school would be talking about it forever, or until the next big party came along. She had to be careful though because pictures from tonight's event would surely end up on Facebook tomorrow and anything embarrassing would just be uncalled for.

"He better not be wasted already," Mimi said as they approached the front door.

Music was blasting through speakers inside making the front porch vibrate. It was a good thing Souta's family owned a lot of private land because this party would surely catch the attention of the cops if it were in a remote neighborhood.

They didn't even bother knocking because no one would hear it anyways. Both girls awed as they stepped inside the massive home.

"What do his parents do for a living again?" Mimi asked.

"Uh, they own some car dealerships or something," Sora replied.

"This is ridiculous."

"You're telling me."

"SORA!" A voice shouted over the crowd and music.

They turned to see Tai, wearing a really goofy smile, stumbling towards them. Sora knew, and could smell, that he was already drunk.

"Sora," he said again throwing an arm around her neck, "I am so glad you're finally here! I need you to be my partner in beer pong. Everyone so far has totally sucked but if I have you on my team I'll never lose! Oh boy is that my dinner?"

Sora just laughed. Tai was funny when he was drunk. Mimi, however, didn't find him so amusing.

"Meet me outside in five!" Tai said, taking his food and stumbled toward the back door.

Sora could see that Mimi was fuming. A couple of shots though and she'd be just fine.

"Come on, I see tequila bottles in the kitchen. Take a shot with me?" Sora asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Fine. Whatever," Mimi said.

The kitchen, which opened up to a massive porch outside, was where most people were hanging out. Souta had the back doors open so everyone could come and go as they pleased. The porch was also where the beer pong tables were set up and from what Sora could see they were getting pretty heated. It seemed like everyone from their senior class was there that night. Familiar faces were popping up everywhere, including ones Sora would have been happy not seeing at all.

"Well, look what the skank dragged in. How did _you_ get invited to this party?" Avery Miller asked, appearing suddenly in front of them with three of her tag-along friends.

Avery was wearing her typical "hey, look at me!" outfit; which was basically nothing. She had on a skirt that showed off her long, tan legs, a shirt so low that you could tell she'd gotten her boobs done recently (even though she denied it), and heels high enough that she towered over every other girl there. Her hair was curled just for the occasion and she was wearing more make up than usual. Sora just smirked, realizing you could still see the bruises from where she got punched. It didn't matter though, she still looked like a knock out regardless.

"Back off, slut. Go check your make up or something your ugly bruises are showing," Mimi stepped in, pushing past them.

Avery squealed and ran for the bathroom in panic. Sora just rolled her eyes. _And these are the people I go to school with..._ Sora thought.

Mimi grabbed shot glasses sitting on the counter and quickly poured two shots of tequila.

"Cheers," she said not even taking the time to wait for Sora to grab hers.

Sora just watched as Mimi threw back the shot and quickly went for another. It was going to be a really long night, she could tell.

"Sora! What are you doing? Hurry up, we're about to start!" Tai shouted from the porch.

Mimi scowled and went for another shot.

"Don't you think you should slow it down a little? You're going to get sick," Sora commented.

"Back off, I'll do what I want," Mimi said taking yet another shot and then walking outside. It wouldn't take long before she started feeling that buzz.

Sora followed her out into the commotion. There were two plastic tables set up for beer pong. A game was currently being played at one table between four guys Sora recognized from the football team. The other table, where she assumed she was going to play, was her and Tai on one side and Souta and a guy name Michael on the other.

"House rules?" Sora asked, preparing herself for the game.

"Six cups on each side. If both players on one team get their balls in the same cup, it counts as a double cup. If the ball hits the cup and spins on the rim, the opposing team, if female, can blow the ball out of the cup and if male, can finger it out. You get one re-rack on the cups so choose wisely. On the final cup, if both players get their ball in it's game over. If only one player gets it in, the opposing team has the chance to make a comeback. If they fail to get a ball in though, it's game over. Got it?" Souta explained.

"Sure," Sora said, "How do we determine who goes first?"

"You and me, sweetheart. Stare me right in the eyes and throw the ball. Whoever gets theirs in the opposing teams cup gets to start."

"Sounds good to me. You ready?"

"I think the question is, are _you _ready?"

Sora just smirked, "I don't think you realize who you're dealing with here."

"Oh, she's fiesty. I like it. Let's get started!"

Tai handed Sora a ping pong ball and Souta grabbed one as well. She smiled and stared into his eyes; they were green, from what she could see. He smiled back and they both threw the ball. Naturally, Sora's went in.

"What did I tell you? Girl's got game," Tai said giving her a high five.

By this point majority of the people at the party had gathered around to watch the game. It got pretty heated about halfway through, what with Sora knocking out all but one of the opposing teams cups and none of theirs even being touched. It ended pretty quickly once Sora and Tai landed their balls in the same cup.

"Dude, we lost to a chick and a drunk guy who is _on the soccer team_," Michael said to Souta.

"Rematch!" Souta shouted, refusing to be defeated, and everyone cheered.

"Sure. Play better this time I'm getting kind of thirsty," Sora teased.

"Oh, baby don't tempt me!"

Sora just laughed as they lined up the cups and began filling them with beer again. Tai managed to find the bottle of tequila Mimi was shooting earlier and offered her a shot.

"I don't need a shot glass," Sora said taking the bottle from him and throwing it back, taking a couple swigs. The clear liquid made her insides burn. For whatever reason, the more she drank, the cockier she got.

"It is seriously a damn shame that she and Ishida are together. Sora is probably the coolest chick on the planet and go figure she's tied down," Souta said and some other guys agreed.

Sora smirked thinking, _Take that, bitch, _when she saw the look of horror on Avery's face after he said it. Avery ended up disappearing into the crowd and Sora didn't see her again._  
_

"If you ever get bored of playing with little boys, hit me up," Souta winked.

"What is this?" Matt said finally making an appearance, "I show up late and you try to move in on my girl? Not cool, Souta. Not cool."

Souta just gave a lopsided grin as Matt playfully punched him on the shoulder. He and Tai did that hand shake, half hug thing that guys do and he greeted everyone else. He turned his attention to Sora.

"Hey babe," he said pulling her close and giving her an extremely passionate and embarrassing kiss right in front of everyone. If anyone had doubts about them actually being official they all believed it now.

"Gross, get a room," Tai said "accidentally" knocking into them, "Do that later we have a game to play. In case you didn't know, Matt, Sora and I dominated last round."

"Uh, no, Sora dominated. You sucked," Souta corrected and everyone laughed.

"I had a couple of good shots!" Tai defended.

"He was really pretty awful, actually," Sora whispered to Matt who just laughed.

"I heard that," Tai said, "Let's just start the damn game, okay?"

Matt stood back and watched them play. Mimi joined him suddenly, half stumbling.

"Nice of you to finally show up," she said.

"Who pissed in your cheerios?" Matt asked.

"I'm in a great mood, Yamato. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh yeah? How's that tequila treating you?"

Mimi just grinned stupidly.

"I thought so," Matt said.

* * *

The party continued to rage on into all hours of the night. Sora ended up dominating in beer pong four games out of six and they finally decided to call it quits because it didn't matter who she was teamed up with, they always won. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Mimi had even managed to lighten up; mostly because Tai was actually paying attention to her now.

"Have you ever been hit by a guy that weighs over two hundred pounds and is running full speed at you? Let me tell you, it's not pretty and hurts like hell," Souta stated.

"I'm just saying that soccer is a way more intense sport than football. It's a fact," Tai replied.

"You're crazy. Football is so much more intense. People die, Tai. They literally can die. Like, you don't even understand."

A bunch of people were sitting around in the living room discussing which sport was better: soccer or football. Of course, considering players from both teams were there, a heated argument broke out and everyone was defending themselves. Sora just laughed, obviously siding with the soccer team, and Matt didn't really care either way. Mimi was neutral; she cheered for both teams but never really paid attention to either of them. She just liked watching the guys run around in tight pants.

"Let's get out of here," Matt whispered into Sora's ear.

"Lead the way," Sora replied.

The two stood but no one seemed to notice. They wandered the house looking for somewhere private when they found a door to the basement. There were no lights on so they assumed no one was down there.

The basement was huge, like the rest of the house. There was a formal entertainment area with a sectional couch, huge flat screen TV, and bean bag chairs. A pool table and ping pong table sat off to the side and there were doors branching off down a hallway. They didn't waste time checking the rooms for other party-goers.

Sora pushed Matt down on the couch and crawled on top of him quickly removing her shirt. Matt just smiled, eyes half closed, and shivered when her warm lips touched his neck. She managed to pull his shirt off and was reaching for his belt when he stopped her.

"I don't have anything," he said.

"I don't care," Sora said continuing to kiss his neck.

Now, in any sober situation this would have turned into a problem. In this situation, however, lack of birth control wasn't an issue, considering they weren't thinking straight.

Clothes came off one-by-one, things got heated, and neither one of them realized where they were or what happened when they woke up the next day.

* * *

Words could not express how excited Sora was to be back in school the following Monday. She greeted the day with a smile and vowed not to let anything get her down. Well, that was until she ran into the principal.

"Takenouchi, good to see you back. How are those designs coming for the fashion show?"

She froze. _Designs! Crap! I completely forgot! _

"Oh, um, they're coming along great!" She lied. In reality, she'd spent the entire weekend nursing her hangover from Souta's party Friday night. She didn't remember much from it other than playing a bunch of rounds of beer pong and throwing back shots with Mimi on the side. Most of it was fuzzy though. Luckily, those who had taken pictures didn't manage to get many of her in an embarrassing situation, if there were any. She couldn't remember.

"Good to hear. I can't wait to see what you've come up with! I expect to see what you've come up with on my desk by the middle of the week. Carry on."

He walked away and she sighed. This fashion show was beginning to become a bother. She needed ideas and she needed them quick.

"Sora!" Mimi said almost running down the hall to get to her, "Have you seen the pictures Lexie Newman just posted on Facebook from the party? I'm so embarrassed and she refuses to take them down!"

"What kind of pictures?" Sora wondered.

"Well, let's just say there may be more or less a couple of me half-naked on top of Tai. Also, I think I put on a strip tease for everyone on the coffee table. I don't even remember doing that. Now I look like a slut and everyone in the school can see them."

"Just untag yourself."

"People can still see them on her page though."

"Then report them to Facebook. They take down pictures if you report them. It was just a party. Everyone did stupid stuff. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"I shouldn't have drank as much as I did. I don't think I left my room for two days."

Sora laughed, "I don't think either of us did. You're parents probably thought we died."

"Probably. Anyways, do you have tennis today?"

"No. Tennis got canceled due to the rain. Our last game is Friday so yay for that. I'm going to talk to Christian about designs for the fashion show once school gets out."

"Who's Christian?"

"Just some guy that's really good at this fashion crap who is going to help me. I better get going though or I'm going to be late to class. I'll see you later, okay?"

Sora quickly sprinted in the opposite direction leaving Mimi there confused.

"Christian...?" She asked again, really curious now.

* * *

"Christian, I need your help," Sora said into her phone once school had let out for the day.

"Anything for you, sweetheart," he replied.

"I have to come up with designs for this stupid spring fashion show and I'm at a complete loss. I don't have a clue where to begin with this kind of thing and my principal is expecting designs on his desk by Wednesday. Help?"

"Uh, hello, fashion is my middle name! Come by right now and I'll teach you a thing or two."

"You are so awesome. Thank you so much!"

"No, Sora. Thank _you._"

Sora wasn't exactly sure what to make of that last part but she didn't think much into. She grabbed her things and dashed off to the studio as quick as her feet could carry her.

* * *

"These school uniforms are hideous!" Junya cried as Sora entered the studio, "Who in their right mind decided _that_ color of green would go well with anyone's skin tone?"

Junya was absolutely appalled by Sora's school uniform and he was making it very well known to everyone standing within ten feet of him. He hated everything about it and couldn't understand why they subjected everyone in a _public_ school to wear the exact same thing.

"It completely takes away from the individualism of a person. I think the first thing we need to help you with is a design for new uniforms. Ones that aren't so... green."

"Green and blue are the school colors though," Sora stated, "They won't change the uniform just because of the color."

"I'm not talking about just the color," Junya said, "You look like a school teacher. I'm thinking something more... sexy, for the ladies. I can only imagine what the men's uniforms look like."

"Gray pants, green jacket, blue tie," Christian piped in, "Worst dress code of my life. The principal always had it out for me when I would try to flare it up every once in a while."

"Just as I feared. Well, let's get to work coming up with some designs for this 'fashion show'. God knows everyone at that school could use a little help..."

* * *

Sora went home that evening having learned a ton from Christian and Junya. They had not only helped her design ideas for new school uniforms, she'd even managed to think up a couple of designs herself which both men actually approved of. Christian said she was "the next big thing" and Junya just nodded and smiled, which Sora took as a good sign.

"Meems, I'm home," Sora shouted once she'd arrived at the apartment, but received no answer, "Meems?"

The apartment was quiet. Mimi's parents were out, as usual, but Mimi was nowhere in sight. Sora searched around, listening for any noise that might indicate someone was here. A quiet laugh came from Mimi's room.

"Mimi?" Sora said lightly knocking but then letting herself in only to instantly regret it, "Oh my God!"

"Sora? What are you doing get out!" Mimi shouted and Sora slammed the door, her heart racing and face turning red.

Sora had managed to walk in on Tai and Mimi in a very... interesting situation. She saw blurs of naked body parts and tangled sheets. Embarrassed, she went into her bedroom and locked the door not wanting to ever see her friends in that situation again. Hell, she didn't want to see them again for the rest of the night for fear of embarrassing awkwardness afterwards. She'd always wondered what Tai looked like naked... and now that she knew, it horrified her. Not in a disgusted way, just in the sense that she'd just seen not only her best girl friend naked, but also her best guy friend. The worst part was that they were naked together and that just freaked her out.

For whatever reason, Sora found herself at her desk with a bunch of colored pencils and some blank paper. She began sketching designs, whether she found them appropriate for the fashion show or not, and smiled at how much it distracted her. She was pretty good a drawing, she realized, having never really tried before. Her mind at that moment drifted to prom, which was this next weekend. She started sketching designs for prom dresses and wondered what she'd be wearing... better yet, what Matt would be wearing. They would match, of course. She was thinking something form fitting on her and a black tux for him. It would be perfect, she thought.

Hours had passed and Sora realized that it was pushing seven and she hadn't even eaten dinner yet. She pushed all the sketches off to the side and peeked out her bedroom door to make sure no one was in the kitchen. When she saw that it was empty, she tip-toed out to get something to eat then planned to quickly dash back to her room to avoid having to see her friends.

It wasn't her friends that she ran into though.

"Oh, hey Mrs. Tachikawa!" Sora almost yelled in hopes that Mimi would hear her and put some clothes on while hiding Tai in the closet or something.

Mimi's mom looked at her strangely and then smiled, "Hello, Sora. Is Mimi home?"

"Uh... no. No, she's not here. She had to stay late at a friends house to study for a final."

"Oh, well that's a shame. I brought pizza. I hope you're hungry."

"Yeah, definitely."

Sora helped her with the groceries in her hands and began putting them away. Mimi's mom was distracted, putting things away in the pantry, when Sora spotted Mimi and Tai, both half-dressed and out of breath, walking out of her room. Sora's eyes widened as she silently screamed at them to go back in Mimi's room and hide.

"Your mom is here!" She mouthed, hoping Mimi would take the hint.

Mimi just stared at her stupidly.

"Your mom!" She mouthed again, Mimi still not getting it.

"Hey, Sora can you hand me the boxes of cereal, please?" Mrs. Tachikawa asked.

"Of course, Mrs. Tachikawa," Sora said loudly receiving another weird look from her. Mimi got a look that screamed deer in headlights and pushed Tai back into her room. Sora sighed in relief.

Sora handed the bag full of cereal to Mimi's mom and quickly excused herself. She walked down the hallway and let herself into Mimi's room.

"What is she doing home? She said she would be gone until later tonight!" Mimi said in a panic as she made herself look more presentable.

"Don't ask me! I told her you were at a friends house studying for a final!" Sora said.

"She actually believed that?"

Sora rolled her eyes.

"You know, this whole sneaking around this is kind of turning me on," Tai said.

"Keep it in your pants, Tai," Sora warned, "You two need to go out the fire escape. Mimi's mom will freak if she see's Tai in here."

"I am not climbing down a fire escape. We are ten floors up. You're out of your damn mind," Mimi said.

"Okay, then what would you suggest we do?"

"Just distract her. I'll sneak Tai out the front door and then act like I'm just getting home."

"How do you suggest I distract her?"

"I don't know! Figure something out!"

Mimi pushed Sora out her bedroom door and shut it behind her. Sora sighed and walked back into the kitchen. Mrs. Tachikawa was nowhere to be found. Sora tip-toed to the base of the stairs that led to Mimi's parents bedroom and listened. She could hear Mrs. Tachikawa shuffling around up there and took it as her chance to get Tai out of the apartment.

She dashed back to Mimi's room and let herself in quickly. Tai and Mimi were in mid lip-lock and clothes were about to come off again. She growled, grabbed Tai by the shirt, and shoved him out the door.

"So much for you thinking she's too damn whiny," Sora whispered as she pushed him out the front door.

"She's hot, I can deal," Tai smirked.

"Say hi to your mom and Kari for me."

"See ya."

Sora slammed the door and shouted loudly, "Hey, Meems!"

Mimi came out of her room and pretended to just be walking in the house as her mom came shuffling down the stairs.

"Oh, good you're home! I got dinner. I hope you're hungry," she said.

"Hey, mom. Yeah, definitely. Thanks," Mimi said with a smile.

"You owe me," Sora whispered and Mimi winked at her.

* * *

The rest of the week carried on with little incident. Sora had delivered the sketches to the principal, as promised, and he was awe-struck that she'd actually done a decent job. By Friday, everyone was still talking about Souta's party, calling it the greatest party in Odaiba High history. Well, that was until the next big party presented itself. Saturday finally rolled around and the girls were out shopping for prom dresses; it was exaclty one week away.

"I love this dress! Oh, and this one too! And this one! They're all so awesome!" Mimi cooed over all the dresses the designer gown store had to offer.

"Mimi, these dresses are way out of my price range," Kari said looking at another price tag that almost made her faint.

"Yeah. My parents don't have enough extra money to just fork over for a dress at this price," Yolie agreed.

"Oh, come on you guys! We have to stand out at prom and the only way that's going to happen is if we are wearing something that every other girl envies," Mimi said.

"How about you pick a dress and the rest of us will get something somewhere else later," Yolie suggested.

"Boring. Fine. Sora, which ones do you like?"

Sora looked at her in a daze, "Mimi, I don't have money for these kinds of dresses either."

"Um, wrong. You have daddy's credit card. The black Amex, if I'm correct."

"That doesn't mean I can just use it whenever I choose. It's for emergencies only."

"You have a black Amex card?" Yolie asked, "Do your parents really make that much money?"

"Her mom is only like the most famous flourist in all of Tokyo _and_ her dad does medical research. Of course they make a lot of money," Mimi said.

"Wow. I never knew."

"I don't exactly brag about it," Sora said.

"Can you please just this once make an exception and splurge on a really awesome, really beautiful dress with me?

"Mimi..."

"Please, please, please? You won't regret it I promise!"

Sora stared at her friend that was almost on her hands and knees begging. She shook her head and Mimi smiled, knowing that she'd won.

"Yay! This is very exciting," Mimi said rummaging through the dresses again.

A text message sounded from Sora's phone. She dug through her purse to find it and smiled while rolling her eyes at the message. Yolie smirked.

"Looks like lover boy couldn't resist talking to you even though he knew it was girls day," she said.

"I thought we agreed no boys," Kari said.

"It's not Matt," Sora said texting back.

Yolie and Kari looked at her each other confused.

"It's Christian," Mimi said suddenly, knowing that Sora always wore that expression when she talked to her new, fabulous best guy friend.

"Who is Christian?" Kari wondered.

"He's just a friend," Sora said quickly.

"Oh my God," Yolie and Kari said at the same time causing Sora to look up from her phone.

"What?" She asked.

"You and Matt _just _started dating! How can you be cheating on him already?" Yolie cried.

"If you have feelings for someone else you should let Matt go and not lead him on like you are. He really likes you a lot, Sora. I think he might even love you a little bit," Kari said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What? I don't have feelings for Christian!" Sora defended.

"Oh, no. She's in denial," Yolie said.

"Christian is gay!" Sora said loudly, drawing attention from other women in the store.

"Oh," Yolie said, "Well, that's okay then."

"So who is he?" Kari still wondered.

"I met him at this fashion thing. He actually turned into a good friend really quickly. He's asking me to come by the studio for some final sketches," Sora said.

The two stared at her like she was speaking another language.

"What?" She wondered.

"Why would someone be asking you for an opinion on final sketches? No offense," Yolie asked.

"They're my sketches," Sora said.

"Since when do you sketch?"

"Since recently, I guess."

"Do you tell us anything any more? I can't believe this is the first we are hearing of it."

"It's not really that big of a deal."

"It's a huge deal! Where exactly does this Christian guy work?"

"He works for this guy named Watanabe Junya."

Yolie and Kari gasped.

"Watanabe Junya, as in the the famous designer?" Yolie asked.

"Yep," Sora replied.

"Since when do you know a famous designer?"

"It's a long story I really don't want to get into it right now."

"This is kind of a big deal! I want details, woman!"

"Hey, if Sora says she doesn't want to talk about it then she doesn't want to talk about it. Leave her alone," Mimi commented.

"Fine. But I'll get information whether you want me to or not," Yolie pouted.

"I hate to cut the fun short, but I really need to meet up with Christian about this," Sora said grabbing her purse and heading for the door.

"Well, wait a minute. Does Junya's store sell prom dresses?" Yolie wondered.

"Probably. Why?"

"We'll come with you! If you're going to try and blow us off we might as well see if we can find something while you're busy!"

"Um, okay. If you want."

"Perfecto!"

* * *

Christian's face lit up as soon as Sora walked through the door to Junya's store. He ran to the shop door and locked it, putting up a "Back in Thirty Minutes" sign on the door.

"You brought friends," Christian commented.

"Yeah, Christian this is Mimi, Kari, and Yolie. We were kind of prom dress shopping when you texted me so they decided to tag along," Sora said.

"Sora never mentioned how incredibly good-looking you are," Mimi gawked, wide-eyed.

"You flatter me," Christian smiled.

"She's right you are really hot," Yolie said.

"Well, you two aren't too bad looking yourselves."

Sora just rolled her eyes, "Before anyone starts taking off their clothes just remember he's into dudes. Can we go over the sketches now?"

"Red's in a mood today..." Yolie whispered to Mimi.

"I heard that," Sora said.

"Sketches, right," Christian said, "They're in the back. Let me go grab them. Make yourselves at home, ladies."

"I see the prom dresses!" Yolie said and skipped to the other side of the store. Kari and Mimi followed.

"Did you find your dress yet?" Christian asked as soon as he came back.

"No, not yet," Sora began, "We were just over at some small boutique a couple blocks away but they weren't really my style. Plus, Mimi was trying to get me to spend a fortune on one."

"Well, Junya's dresses aren't cheap either. You'd be better off designing your own."

"I don't have time. Prom is next weekend. Between school and the fashion show I just don't have any time."

"I bet Junya would make one of your designs."

"I couldn't ask him to do that."

"How come?"

"He's a busy guy I don't want to bug him."

"He likes you I doubt he'd say no. Plus, it would give him an idea of what you're capable of."

"Where is he anyways?"

"In his office. He's on a call.

"Was on a call," Junya said appearing from the back room, all smiles, "Great to see you again, Sora. Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I'm preparing a trip to Europe for a couple of weeks over the summer. If you're available I'd like you to come with me. Christian will be there as well. It's an annual trip I take to buy new material and see the designs being released over there. You would enjoy it, I think. Everything would be compensated for, of course."

"Wow, that sounds really incredible," Sora said.

"Oh, it is," Christian chimed in, "Five star hotels, twenty-four hour room service, Milan, Paris, Progue... You would love it. If nothing else just go to see the old buildings; they literally take your breath away. Don't mind the language barrier though, Junya is fluent in French, English, and Spanish."

"I can speak a little bit of French. Well, I understand it better than I can speak it. My boyfriend's grandfather was from France. I spent a lot of time with him in the hospital last summer before he died and he always spoke to me in French so I picked up on it quickly."

"You continue to amaze me. I do hope you decide to come," Junya said, "Now, let's talk about your sketches. You really do have an eye for this busniess. I did, however, make some changes to a couple of them..."

"Oh my goodness," Yolie said, "That's him! That's the designer over there!"

Mimi's face lit up and she coasted over to him like a moth to a flame.

"I didn't realize you brought friends, Sora, how rude of me," Junya said turning toward the girls, "Nice to meet you all."

Mimi and Yolie gawked and laughed nervously.

"It is so nice to meet you!" Mimi said shaking his hand, "You're a genius. Seriously."

"Thank you. I see you're looking for prom dresses."

"Yes, sir. Your designs are incredible."

Junya's phone began to ring, "Ah, I don't mean to be rude but I must take this. Christian, compensate our friends here with any prom dress of their choosing. Shoes, also. Excuse me..."

Yolie's jaw dropped, "Did he say..."

"We could have..." Kari continued.

"Designer gowns..." Mimi said.

"Free, yep," Christian finished, "I told you he liked you, Sora."

"Yeah, no kidding," Sora replied in shock.

* * *

Yolie and Kari parted separate ways with Sora and Mimi once they'd picked out their dresses for prom. Sora, for whatever reason she couldn't understand, made the decision to go to her mom's shop afterwards and talk to her for the first time since they'd been back from spring break. Mimi tagged along for support.

The small bell above the door to Takenouchi Floural rang as she entered. As usual there was no one standing on the floor; most likely Toshiko was in the back room putting together arrangements.

"Be out in one minute!" She heard Toshiko's voice call, making her heart race.

"This was a bad idea," Sora said turning for the door, "We should go."

"Sora," Mimi said grabbing her by the arm, "You can't avoid her forever. She's your mother. Yes, she treated you badly but it's time to move on and mend your relationship. She's the only mother you're ever going to have. Suck it up and be nice to her."

She knew Mimi was right but talking to her mother just felt awkward now. It used to be a natural thing, like how she would talk to Tai or Matt, but now it was just weird. Her heart raced as Toshiko appeared from the back room, dirty and covered in flower pieces. Toshiko must have felt the same because when she saw Sora, she stopped.

"Hey, mom..." Sora managed to blurt out.

"Sora..." Toshiko said, almost in tears, "How... how are you, dear?"

"I'm okay. What about you?"

"Fine, I guess. What brings you here?"

"Well, we were in the area..."

"It's really great to see you," she said quickly.

Sora smiled, "It's good to see you too, mom."

Toshiko smiled for what Sora thought was probably the first time in a while. And just like that, all seemed right with the world again.

* * *

After leaving her mom's store Sora felt better. She and her mom had made up, in the best way they could, and Sora was having dinner with them later that week. She still wasn't ready to move back in, but in time she knew she would. Moving in with Mimi was just a way to piss her mom off, which she realized she enjoyed doing for a while for whatever petty reason.

Sora and Mimi returned to the apartment and dropped off their prom dresses. Sora, feeling a sense of high, decided to go for a job in Odaiba Park. Jogging always made her feel that much better.

"Hey, babe," Sora smiled into the phone when Matt called.

"Hello beautiful. What are you up to? How was girls day?"

"It was great."

"Did you find a dress?"

"Yep. A really nice one too. Let's just say it would have costed me around four figures... had it not been free."

"Free? Who would give you that expensive of a dress for free? Oh, wait. Junya. Right."

"Yep. He gave all of us free dresses... and shoes!"

"Wow. That's good. So, what color is it? Please don't say pink. I'm not sure if you know this but no guy willingly wants to wear pink; ever. Unless they're gay or think they're too hot for everyone."

Sora laughed, "No, it's definitely not pink. It's blue."

"Okay. Blue I can deal with. What are you doing now?"

"Driving to Odaiba Park to run the trail. Want to tag along?"

"Me? Jogging? I think I'll pass. I wouldn't make it more than a couple minutes and you'd have to leave me to die."

"Not much of the athletic type, huh?"

"Naw. I'm more of the self-loner, emo-esk, let's go rock out on some instruments type."

"And that's why I like you."

"I do what I can."

"All right," she laughed, "Well, I'm pulling up to the park. I'll call you when I leave, okay?"

"Sounds good. Bye, babe."

"Bye."

Sora parked the car and got out to stretch. She walked toward the trail, which circled around the soccer and baseball fields, and spotted some familiar faces from behind the fence. She smiled as she approached.

"Hey there, sexy," she shouted, causing the boys behind the fence to turn.

"Oh, that's just not fair. Only the girls in relationships hit on me, how sad," Tai grinned.

"She was talking to me, Tai," Davis said, striking a sexy pose only to make Sora laugh.

"I was actually talking to Tk!" Sora said, laughing.

Tk just smiled and shook his head, a little embarrassed. He wasn't cocky like Tai and Davis.

"What brings you here?" Tai asked, walking to the fence.

"I came for a jog," she replied.

"Care to play with us? We could use a fourth."

"Naw, I think I'll just stick to my run."

"Come on..." Tai said and gave his famous lop-sided, sexy grin. It _always _made Sora cave. She had to admit, her best friend was a charmer. He was hard to resist sometimes, especially when he knew he was going to get his way.

"Fine. But I may be a little rusty. I haven't played in a while."

"That's okay. You can be on my team. Tk isn't that great either so he can be with Davis."

"I heard that, jerk!" Tk shouted.

"It hurts because it's true!" Tai shouted back, "Come on in."

Sora walked to the gate and made her way on to the field. She was wearing cheerleading shorts, complements of Mimi, and a sports bra. Davis and Tk couldn't help but look as she crossed the field.

"Stop looking she's your brothers girlfriend," Davis whispered to Tk.

"I wasn't looking!" Tk said, blushing.

"I'm telling Kari."

"You're crazy. You were the one looking not me."

"Yeah, she's pretty hot. It's hard not to look."

"No kidding."

"Ha! You were looking I was right."

"Would you two shut up? You're like little kids," Tai said.

"You two going to play or stand there and gawk all day?" Sora said putting her hands on her hips.

"Bring it on," Davis said.

* * *

Sora made it home later that night around nine or so when it had gotten dark. The soccer game had completely worn her out. She'd forgotten how competitive Davis and Tai could be, especially when playing against each other. She was surprised that she was still pretty good at the game, which pissed Davis off even more since her and Tai had won two games out of three. He blamed Tk, naturally, for their losses. Tk just rolled his eyes and went about his busniess. Sora couldn't help but laugh at Davis' immaturity. Tk was so much more mature than him and yet the two were, oddle enough, best friends. She was still trying to figure that one out. Then again, their relationship reminded her of Matt and Tai's. It started out rocky, and they used to fight a lot, but over time they came to bring out the best in each other.

"That was a long ass run," Mimi said as Sora entered the living room.

"I ran into Tai, Davis, and Tk. We played soccer for a while," Sora replied.

"Oh. Well, Matt called. More than once. He said your phone is off."

"Yeah, it was dead when I got in the car. What did he want?"

"Got me, he's your boyfriend. I told him just to come over and that you'd be home eventually."

"Is he coming over?"

"Yeah, he should be here soon."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to shower before he gets here."

"You should see if Tai wants to come over too."

"Why can't you ask him?"

"I don't want to sound needy. If you ask he will definitely come over. He likes you better than me."

"I very much doubt that. I'm not the one he's sleeping with."

"No... but he connects with you. He tells you everything. You say jump, he says how high. It's disgusting."

"Mimi, I've been best friends with him since we were babies. Of course he tells me everything. I'm the one person he can trust telling everything too. Hell, I tell him things I don't even tell you. It's just how we are; how we've always been."

"Just tell him to come over. My parents are at their cabin until tomorrow night. There's tequila in the cabinet and I'm ready to get crazy. And it's not the crappy stuff either. My parents spend big."

"Fine."

Sora walked into her room and plugged in her phone.

**Sora: **_Mimi's rents are out of town and she wants you to come over. Matt's coming over too. _She texted.

Tai replied back quickly. _Does Mimi know how to play hard to get at all?_

**Sora:** _I don't get why you don't just ask her out already. It's all she talks about. If nothing else just do it to make her shut up._

**Tai: **_Naw. Then she might think I actually like her ;-)_

**Sora: **_Just come over. _

**Tai: **_Be there in thirty._

Sora got up and quickly showered. She was in and out within ten minutes just as Matt had arrived.

She walked into her room, wrapped in nothing but a towel, and Matt was casually laying on her bed. He grinned.

"I miss seeing you in a towel from my hallway window," he said.

"You can't have sex yet we haven't even started drinking!" Mimi shouted from her bedroom across the hall making them both laugh.

"Go pour her a couple shots. She's in a mood today," Sora said, "I'll be out in a minute."

"Awe, but I wanted to see the show."

"Just go," Sora laughed pushing him out and shutting the door.

"Meems! Where's the tequila?" Matt yelled.

"Cabinet above the microwave!" She shouted back.

"Get your skinny ass out here and show me!"

"You want to see my ass?"

Sora laughed as they continued shouting all the way into the kitchen. The two got along so well. Their chemistry was as natural as Sora's was with Tai, even though they barely had anything in common.

Sora dressed quickly in a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt and quickly joined them in the kitchen as Matt began pouring shots.

"I guess we're not wasting any time are we?" Sora said stepping up to the kitchen bar.

"Here's to constant binge drinking and Sunday hang-overs," Mimi said and the three took the shot.

"Ugh, that is awful, put it in the freezer for a while," Sora said gagging.

"Hell no. Two more and then put it in the freezer," Mimi said motioning for another.

"When did we decide to get wasted tonight?"

"About ten minutes ago. Stop talking and take the shot!"

She did as Mimi said, mostly in fear that Mimi might force it down her throat if she didn't. The girl may be small but she is surprisingly strong.

"All right, three is enough for right now," Sora said putting the shot glass in the sink and trying not to gag on the taste of tequila that lingered in her throat.

"Give it about fifteen minutes and you'll be feeling great," Mimi said.

About thirty minutes later, Tai finally showed up and the three were feeling pretty good. Tai had a case of beer in hand and a bag to spend the night. Mimi greeted him happily.

"You're here!" She said throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

"Whoa," Tai said after she pulled away, "Someone's already been hitting the bottle."

Mimi just giggled.

"Thanks for waiting, guys," Tai said.

"Mimi insisted," Sora defended.

"Well, I guess I need to catch up then."

"Be my guest."

"I have a great idea," Mimi said, "Let's play a drinking game."

"What kind of drinking game?"

"I'm thinking 'Never have I ever'."

"You always want to play that game," Matt laughed, "How many more secrets can we possibly spill about ourselves?"

"Well, you and Sora are dating now so I'm guessing a lot."

He just shook his head, "All right. Let's do it."

The four of them walked into the kitchen. Sora and Matt took a seat at the bar while Mimi poured shots. She handed everyone a beer too so they could take drinks every time they got out.

"Who wants to start?" Mimi asked.

"How does this work?" Sora wondered, "First person to get three strikes takes a shot?"

"Yep."

"So basically we're supposed to say something that we've never done and anyone who has done it takes a drink?" Tai asked.

"Pretty much," Sora replied.

"All right. Well, I'll start then. Never have I ever... made out with Sora."

Matt and Mimi both took a drink and Tai choked.

"You and Sora have made out? When the hell did this happen and why is this the first time I'm hearing about it?" Tai directed to Mimi.

"Summer before junior year, Izzy's sixteenth birthday party. I'll go next. Never have I ever... had a threesome."

No one took a drink and they all kind of laughed in relief.

"I want to hear more about this Sora and Mimi make out session," Tai said.

"Later. We're playing a game. Matt, your turn," Mimi said.

"Okay... never have I ever... slept with anyone in our social group except Sora," he said.

Mimi and Tai both took a drink and Sora and Matt freaked.

"Oh my God, who?" They both wondered. It was more directed at Mimi because most everyone knew of Tai's track record.

"I'd rather not discuss it at this moment in time..." Mimi said only to receive glares from her friends.

"I'm actually kind of curious now. Who else in our group of friends have you slept with?" Tai wondered.

Mimi looked away and took another couple of gulps of her beer.

"Quit avoiding the question. Who?" Tai asked again, almost demanding it this time.

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you. But please don't go all postal like I know you're going to. In his defense, I'm the one that pushed it," Mimi said.

"Just tell me who, Mimi."

"Well, it was Izzy's sixteenth birthday and we were both kind of drunk and..."

Matt choked on his beer and Sora gave a shocked laugh. Tai's expression didn't change.

"You slept with Izzy?" Matt asked completely dumbfounded.

"It only happened one time! We were both drunk... it just kind of happened..." Mimi said.

"I didn't know Izzy had it in him," Tai said.

"No one knows so please don't say anything to him about it. I told him I wouldn't tell anyone. He was a little freaked out after," Mimi said.

They all just laughed.

"That is too perfect," Matt said, tears forming in his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Why is it so funny?" Mimi wondered.

"It's Izzy! You're, well, you know, Miss Popularity and he's... well, yeah, not so much. It's just funny. Ironic, actually."

"Hey, be nice. He's not a bad guy. You guys are supposed to be his friends quit making fun of him!"

"I'm not making fun of him! If anything I want to give him a high-five for tapping that ass!"

Mimi rolled her eyes as they continued to laugh, "Can we just continue the game please?"

"I'm not sure if I want to know anyone else's secrets," Sora said kind of horrified.

"No way now I'm curious. Your turn, Sora," Tai said.

"Ugh, okay. Well, never have I ever... pierced anything besides my ears."

Mimi was the only one who took a drink.

"Belly button," she stated.

"That's three strikes, Meems. Take a shot," Sora said.

"You guys suck," she said throwing back the shot.

"It's not our fault you're skanky," Sora laughed receiving the middle finger, "Go Tai."

"Never have I ever... cheated on a girlfriend and or boyfriend since there are ladies here," Tai said; no one drank.

"Never have I ever..." Mimi thought for a minute, "Had sex in a public place."

Sora turned red and hesitated but Matt proudly drank. Sora finally sipped on hers and Tai just shook his head.

"Shame on you," Tai said, "Where?"

"I think the better question is: where not?" Matt replied, grinning.

"Gross. I don't want to know," Mimi said.

"I don't even know you any more," Tai said to Sora while shaking his head.

"Anyway..." Sora said.

"My turn..." Matt said.

* * *

The game continued a couple of more rounds with everyone having had at least two shots. This was soon followed by drunken strip poker (Matt and Tai cheated), quarters, flip cup (the girls dominated), and just casual beer sipping. Needless to say they were all gone by the time they decided to wind down for the night.

Mimi rested her head on Sora's shoulder and watched the room spin, "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Don't close your eyes," Sora said, trying to control her own spinning world, "It makes it worse."

Tai and Matt were playing a heated round of Call of Duty on the xbox 360 and the girls were trying hard to focus. They'd officially switched to water in fear they might spend the rest of the night puking. They were also forcing any bread product they could find down their throats in hopes of sobering up quicker.

"I think there's a reason I never drink," Sora said.

"I hate this," Mimi said, "How come those guys drink as much as us and they seem fine?"

"They're bigger than we are. I guess they can handle it better."

"Boys... suck."

"Yep."

"This is boring. I'm going to bed."

Mimi got up, well, attempted to get up, and stumbled down the hallway to her bedroom. She smacked into the wall a couple of times. No one except Sora even noticed. She soon got up and stumbled down the hallway too and joined Mimi in her room.

"Tell me a story," Mimi said happily as Sora cuddled up next to her.

"About what," Sora said closing her eyes and trying not to throw up.

"I don't know. How you and Matt finally decided you're in love with each other or something."

"We're not in love with each other."

"Yeah, right. Of course you are you just haven't said it yet."

"Mimi..."

"You are. Just accept it."

"He hasn't said he loves me yet."

"He will. You'll see."

Sora opened her eyes and stared at the dark ceiling. She didn't know if Matt really loved her or not. Hell, she didn't even know if she felt that way about him yet. They _just _started dating. They weren't at that point in their relationship yet... right?

"Meems, I'm so sleepy..." Sora said but received no response. Mimi was already asleep. Sora yawned and closed her eyes. Within minutes, everything stopped spinning and she was fast asleep. What a crazy night it had been.

* * *

Sora awoke the next morning, everything still spinning. Her head hurt so bad it was making her ears ring. She sat up in her bed and looked at her surroundings. She was in her room and, she realized, she was naked under her sheets. Her bedroom was a mess. There was a lamp knocked over on the floor, clothes all over the place, pillows scattered across the floor, and the chair from her desk knocked over. She faintly remembered Matt coming to get her out of Mimi's room. She remembered laying in her bed and him telling her to go to sleep but she had other things in mind. From that moment on it was all just hair and elbows.

She looked to the other side of the bed and saw Matt, also naked, sleeping with his back turned toward her. _That explains the mess, _she thought. She leaned down and kissed him warm skin. He stirred and rolled over, facing her. He opened one eye only to pull a pillow over his face.

"What time is it?" He asked.

Sora looked over at the clock, "Almost ten."

"Why are you awake?"

"I don't know I just kind of woke up."

"It's too early. We just went to sleep around six."

Sora blushed. She didn't realize they'd been intimate for that long.

"I'm going back to sleep now," Matt said.

Sora cuddled up next to him and brushed the hair out of his face, smiling.

"You're beautiful," she whispered.

He smiled, "You're not too bad looking yourself. You know, considering the bed hair and liquor breath."

She laughed, "You didn't seem to have any complaints about my breath last night."

"Mmm... last night was good."

"You're cute."

She moved forward and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"I could definitely get used to this," he said.

They lay there for a little while, kissing and cuddling. Their bodies moved in perfect rhythm and seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces. It was Heaven.

"I love you..." Matt whispered suddenly.

She moved back, startled. She wasn't sure if he'd really just said that or if she was hallucinating. When she didn't respond he looked offended.

"This is usually the part where you say something," he said.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I heard you, I was just wondering if you meant to say it or not."

"Well, gee, I didn't think it would turn into an issue."

"It's just... sudden."

"So I'm guessing you don't feel the same."

"It's not that it's just... are you sure? That's a big thing to tell someone if you don't actually mean it yet."

"Sora, I love you. I've been wanting to tell you for a while, even before we started dating. It took me a while to realize it but now I know it's true. If you don't feel the same I completely understand. I just thought it was fair that you knew how I feel."

Sora was stunned. Matt had just told her he loved. He was actually _in love _with _her!_ She didn't know how to respond. No boy had ever spoken those words to her before. She always wondered if he'd felt that way and was kind of scared of how she would feel in return but the way he said it felt so natural; so real. It felt like she'd known it all along it had just taken too long to realize it.

"You're not gonna like break up with me now are you?" He asked after she didn't respond.

"What? No. Why would I do that?" Sora replied.

"You just look... I don't know, confused."

"I am, actually, but not in a bad way. I'm confused because... I feel the same, I think? I'm sorry. This is coming out all wrong. I've never been in love before I'm not exactly sure what it feels like. If it's like a can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, home-run kind of feeling then... well, I love you too, Matt."

He smiled at her reasoning, "I thought you might."

"Do you not think this is too much too soon?"

"If we care about each other then it shouldn't matter. Love doesn't have a time limit. We've known each other for a long time. It takes a long time to develop feelings like this but we've had time to do that. You're everything to me, Sora."

"How did I get so lucky to find someone like you?"

"Thank my dad. When I said heck no to moving, he said too bad. If it weren't for him I never would've met the girl next door."

"Girl next door, huh? More like girl down the block now."

He laughed, "You'll go back to your moms; I know you will. And when you do, we can be a lot more sneaky. Tai's right, it's really kind of a turn on."

"I'll think about it."

"I love you, Sora... man, it feels good to finally say that."

"You know what this means right?"

"What?"

"Mimi was right."

* * *

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Well, there you have it. The longest chapter ever. The story will go as follows... Chapter 11 - Prom, Chapter 12 - Fashion Show, Chapter 13 - Graduation, and Chapter 14 - Goodbye Forever...**

**For the record, I'm not Mimi bashing by any means at all. Mimi is one of my top favorite characters respectively followed by Sora, Tai, and Matt so therefore I more like to poke fun at her. Her personality in my stories is kind of the over jealous, whiny, insecure girl but will always be Sora's best friend no matter what. She has a good heart and will do anything to make everyone else happy. It's how I write her character and how I view her personality.  
**

**As always, a huge thanks to those that have put up with me during this story over the years. I realize that the fandom has pretty much diminished on here but for those loyal followers you're the only reason I keep this thing going. Thank you. :)  
**


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